Find Savings to Fund UK’s Digital ID Plan, Ministers Told

The UK government has asked ministers to find reductions in their departmental spending in order to fund a controversial new digital ID program.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, wrote to government departments in December asking them to identify savings that could be diverted to finance the policy, according to people familiar with the matter. Departments were asked to produce proposals for the savings by a deadline in January.