Liz Kendall MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  How much this costs will depend on exactly how we design and build it. I believe that this will help tackle illegal immigration and help give people more control over their data. There is a lot of misinformation out there about what this will and will not do. I do not believe it will take away people’s freedoms. I do not believe that people in Estonia, Denmark, Australia, France and many other countries believe it takes away their freedom either.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I can.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. That is one of the issues that has already been raised with me directly, along with people who are homeless, women who may be fleeing domestic violence, people who do not have access to broadband, and a whole range of other issues. We will work closely with the groups that work with care leavers, but obviously we will want to talk to them ourselves. I am more than happy to follow up that conversation with my hon. Friend.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. He has a lot of experience in this area. We want not only to learn from other countries but to work closely with the National Cyber Security Centre to make sure that we have the highest possible standards of security. Where mistakes have been made, we can learn to put them right, and we are determined to do that. I am very happy to meet the right hon. Gentleman to discuss this in more detail, because we want to get this right.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  These are not hypotheticals; we are looking at how other countries have used these systems to deliver more effective Government and other services to their citizens. We have proposed having mandatory right-to-work checks by the end of the Parliament, but there will be many important voluntary ways in which people can better access services and support. We will be consulting on that fully when we come forward with the detailed proposals.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I think that providing better value for taxpayer money by getting services to work more quickly, effectively and efficiently and by cracking down on fraud and reducing error and waste is a really important part of delivering for the British people.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I think there is a lot of misinformation out there about this proposal. It is not about surveillance; it is not about a police state—the police will not be able to stop people and require them to show their digital ID. In many other countries where such a scheme has been used, it has been about making the Government and the state more effective and efficient and about giving people greater control over their data so that they can actually see it. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman uses search engines or whether he has any form of online banking on his phone, but I gently say to him that the world has moved on. I understand that lots of people have concerns, but I believe that there is a strong case for making this happen, just as it has happened in many other countries.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I have already said that the scheme will not be used for that. In many other countries these systems have made accessing Government and public services much easier, quicker and more efficient. I think there is some scaremongering about this issue. Such schemes in other countries really have made Government fit around people, rather than making people fit into Government and their different services, and I think that is a huge benefit.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  It will be across the United Kingdom. As the right hon. Gentleman said, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital Government and Data was in Northern Ireland just last week, and he also visited and talked to members of the Irish Government. The Good Friday agreement and the common travel area are absolutely sacrosanct. This will be a UK-wide proposal, and nothing that we do would ever harm the Good Friday agreement.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, that is definitely the first time I have been called a big fat socialist. [ Laughter. ] The hon. Lady asks how it will help crack down on illegal immigration. Making ID mandatory and digital will really help us to get, much more swiftly and automatically, more actionable intelligence about rogue employers, and about who are doing the checks they are required to do and who are not. Secondly, the hon. Lady talks about those who are digitally excluded. As I said in my statement, I take that issue extremely seriously. We actually have a digital inclusion action plan. The Conservatives did not do one for 10 years. If they cared so much about it, perhaps they would have done. Understandably and rightly, I am sure we will have lots of questions about having the highest possible standards. We will be working to international best practice standards. There are not many advantages to lagging behind so many other countries—many other countries—that have digital ID, but one is that we can learn from their experience when things have gone wrong and how they improved their security. That is what we intend to do. I finish by saying this. The hon. Lady comes to the Dispatch Box with fire and brimstone, but it is quite interesting that she differs from the shadow Home Secretary. Back in February, the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp) backed the idea, saying there were “very significant benefits”. In August, he said the Conservatives should consider it. The Conservatives’ leader in June said that she had moved her position on digital ID and that if it could answer difficult problems then, yes, that was something they would look at. Given the amount of flip-flops on the other side of the Chamber, you would think it was still summer. They are not serious, and they are not credible. Until they are, they are not electable.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I do not know why the right hon. Gentleman thinks that people should not be required to prove that they have the right to work in this country. It seems a very reasonable thing to do. Some 92% of people over 16 have a phone, and as I said in answer to a previous question, we are consulting on how we will design and develop this whole programme. Further details about costings will come out in due course.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  That is nonsense.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  There will not be surveillance, and we are not proposing that it will be mandatory to access all different types of services. That is just a wrong characterisation of what we are proposing.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has a huge amount of experience on this issue; I look forward to discussing it with her. The only area where we are proposing the digital ID to be mandatory is for right-to-work checks. [ Interruption. ] No, we are not proposing it to be mandatory for any other area. I believe that as people start to see those benefits, they will want to have it on their phone for accessing public services as well as those in the private sector. We have to get the security right and we have to get digital inclusion right, but I believe that in today’s world, where so many of us have so much information on our phones, there has been a shift in opinion. I look forward to hearing more from her about what she thinks we need to do next.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman may not have heard me earlier, but I said that it will be designed and built in-house.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I think that when the British people—so many of whom now have online banking on their phones and store so much in their digital wallets—look at their friends, neighbours and colleagues across the channel and see that many across Europe have digital ID as a matter of course and that it makes their lives simpler and easier, their common sense will say, “We want a bit of that.”

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to raise the important issues of security—people are rightly concerned about the security of their data, and that is why that will be at the heart of our consultation. In answer to her specific questions: yes, people will control who sees and accesses their data, and we absolutely expect this system to be designed and built within Government, building on the One Login.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  We have considered all those different aspects. It is right for the Prime Minister to say that it should be mandatory for right-to-work checks by the end of the Parliament to prove a person’s right to be here and to work. I also believe that as we develop it and show the benefits for many other aspects of daily life, for which we are not proposing it will be mandatory, people will see the benefits of that. I hope that that will start to shift the debate.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  I hope that I have explained why digital ID needs to be mandatory for right to work checks, and the benefits of that as one part of a toolkit of things to crack down on illegal immigration. Making sure that vulnerable people—those who do not have smartphones or tablets, or the skills—have access is extremely important to me. We will be working closely with all the organisations that can make a difference and the digital inclusion action committee, and we want to look at what more we can do very locally to support groups that we know have access to people. I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to talk in more detail about what we might be able to do to support her constituents, because we are determined to make sure that Britain is a digitally included country.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  Protecting children from harmful content online is a top priority for this Government and for me personally, because it is a deeply concerning issue for parents and children across the country. Since implementing the Online Safety Act this summer, 6,000 sites have taken action to stop children seeing harmful content online, but I will be paying close attention to what is working and will not hesitate to go further if necessary. Indeed, on Monday I added self-harm material to the list of priority offences in the Act, so if companies do not take down content that promotes self-harm or actively stop it appearing, they will face enforcement action. I hope this shows the House my determination to take all necessary steps on this issue.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  We do need to adapt to this age of phenomenal technological development. I have already had a discussion with the chief executive of Ofcom and I intend to meet many other organisations, including those that champion stronger protections for children online. The hon. Lady raises the critical issue that we need to protect people’s privacy, and we need to protect freedom of speech, but we also need to make sure that illegal content, and harmful content for children, is removed. I will leave no stone unturned in delivering on that objective.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  I am always driven by the evidence. We need to see how the Act is being implemented and whether and how it works, and that is the absolute priority for me. I will look at any evidence that hon. Members provide, but the key thing for me is that we are taking action. We have one of the strongest protections anywhere in the world, but I am very interested in the issue of addiction in children online and in how behaviours can become addictive. In this very fast-moving world, we need to be fleet of foot. I think the truth is that the technology develops much faster than we make legislation, and that is a nut that we have to crack.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree, and that is why I am determined to do everything necessary to remove illegal content and to protect children from online harms. Many years ago, when I was a member of the Science and Technology Committee, as part of a report we were doing, I spoke to children in secondary and primary schools in my constituency to see what they felt were the benefits and difficulties of being online. It is an issue I have been concerned about for many years. I am determined to take action, not just for the fabulous people of Watford, but for children and young people right across the country.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  Yes. If Reform Members are so concerned about the Online Safety Act, why are they not here in the Chamber asking me questions about it? Reform wants to scrap the Act, which would mean ripping up protections that crack down on revenge porn, violent misogynistic content, and posts encouraging self-harm or suicide. I commend my hon. Friend on his campaign. Families in his constituency want action, and that is what we intend to take. Finally, we are putting child safety first by taking down illegal content, taming toxic algorithms and making age-inappropriate content harder to access. We will go further if we need to.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  I am glad that the hon. Lady has mentioned that today is World Suicide Prevention Day. Anyone who has experienced it in relation to their family or friends, or in their constituency, knows how devastating it can be. The hon. Lady raises an important issue. From my constituency experience, children and young people want to benefit from all the opportunities and learning they can, but sometimes it is difficult to get it right. It is a complex issue. As a new Secretary of State, I need to get into the detail, but I will always listen. When the evidence is there, I hope to take the appropriate action.