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Sir keir starmeris planning to Introduce Digital ID The government’s long-standing arrangement allowing Irish citizens to work freely in Britain could be at risk, according to reports.
Below general travel area (CTA), British and Irish citizens can live and work in any jurisdiction without obtaining permission.
New digital ID will be mandatory to prove right to work in UK By 2029, the government has promised.
The plan has already been heavily criticized by parties in Northern Ireland, with Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald saying that her party would oppose any attempt to “force” Irish citizens in Northern Ireland to obtain a digital ID.
He called the ID card scheme a “ridiculous proposal”, and said that “the right for citizens in the North to identify as Irish was enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement”.
Now Home Ministry officials have told many times The scheme “will not work” due to the UK’s obligations under the CTA.
The plan has also been opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, with party leader Gavin Robinson saying the plan would do “little to stop illegal immigration”. He slammed digital IDs as “creating another layer of bureaucracy for ordinary citizens.”
The British Irish Chamber of Commerce has said the plan will present “serious challenges” for cross-border workers in Northern Ireland.
A spokesperson said: “How this might work with the Common Travel Area, which gives Irish and UK citizens reciprocal rights to live and work freely in each other’s country, is not at all clear.
“Ireland has no mandatory equivalent ID card that could even be proposed for mutual recognition”.
Home Office officials have said that unless the CTA agreement is changed, digital ID plans will be impossible to implement. many times Informed.
An exemption for Irish citizens would not be acceptable because it would “effectively put them in a better position than British citizens, which would be discriminatory”, a source told the newspaper.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn has said that she is consulting with the Irish Government on the introduction of ID cards.
He claimed: “I am sure that it would not be beyond the wits of all of us to find a way forward that preserves the Good Friday Agreement.” [and] Common travel area but moves towards digital ID”.
A government spokesperson said: “The Good Friday Agreement will never be up for negotiation – its commitments and broad recognition of the Common Travel Area will underpin this plan.
“We will design this system to ensure that everyone who has the right to work in any part of the UK can do so easily and safely and we are committed to engaging with a wide range of stakeholders as we prepare to launch a full, public consultation.”