Newlinks for Wednesday 14th January 2026

New Starmer U-turn over compulsory IDs

“Sir Keir Starmer has abandoned plans for mandatory digital IDs for workers in the 13th significant U-turn of his ­premiership. The prime minister had previously announced that they would be ­compulsory to verify the right to work, as part of a crackdown on migration. Government sources said on Tuesday night that this would instead be optional when the IDs were introduced in 2029. Workers would be given the choice of using other ­documents to ­verify their identity. There had been concern that making the IDs mandatory would undermine public trust in the scheme and lead to a cabinet revolt. Starmer wants to ­refocus the case for IDs on making it easier for people to use services such as registering births, deaths and marriages, bank accounts, voting and booking GP appointments­. Shortly before Labour’s conference in September, Starmer had put migration at the heart of the rationale for IDs, saying: “We need to know who is in our country.” He said the scheme would stop illegal migrants from being able to “slip into the shadow economy”. He pledged to make ID cards “mandatory for the right to work before the end of this parliament”. Before he announced his plans for digital IDs, nearly six in ten voters backed them, with one in four opposed, according to YouGov. Afterwards that dropped to just under four in ten in ­favour, with nearly half opposed.” – The Times

• Keir Starmer waters down digital ID plans after backlash as Tories slam ‘yet another humiliating U-turn’ – The Sun
• Labour scraps plans for compulsory digital ID – Daily Telegraph
• Keir Starmer set for 13th major U-turn as mandatory Digital IDs SCRAPPED – GBNews
• Every Labour U-turn – as Starmer rows back on compulsory digital ID plan – Sky News

Comment:

• Women are fed up with Labour, but they’re not yet turning to Reform – Annabel Denham, Daily Telegraph
• Starmer is hell-bent on destroying your right to a private life – Zia Yusuf, Daily Telegraph

> Today:

Treasury ‘knew before budget taxes would double for thousands of pubs’

“More than 5,000 pubs have had their business rates doubled and the Treasury was kept informed about the scale of the increases before the budget, MPs have been told. Jonathan Russell, the head of the Valuation Office Agency, said that one in eight publicans in England and Wales faced an increase of at least 100 per cent in their rateable value, used as the basis for business rates. The average pub’s rateable value rose by 34 per cent. The government is to announce a package of support for pubs after weeks of criticism from the hospitality industry since the budget. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is resisting calls to go further and provide support to hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses. Peter Kyle, the business secretary, told Times Radio: “We didn’t have access to that information before making these decisions. Now, I heard and we heard, and this government is a listening government, straight away that there were some businesses that were really impacted.” However, Russell said his agency was “very clear” about the impact of the rate rises before the budget. He said it provided “data drops” over 12 months which, while not detailing the rates for individual properties, did provide an overview at a “sectoral level”.” – The Times

• Valuation agency told Treasury before Budget that pub business rates would double – Daily Telegraph
• Sacha Lord condemns Rachel Reeves as being ‘worse for pubs than Covid’ as landlords say rescue package is not enough to save them after Chancellor’s hammer-blow tax raid – Daily Mail
• Burnham piles pressure on Reeves over pub taxes – Daily Telegraph
• Guinness UP by 4p a pint and favourite lagers to be WATERED DOWN as desperate pub bosses try to dodge Reeves’ tax grab – The Sun
• Labour warned 540 pubs face closure this year following hospitality tax raid – GBNews

Comment:

• Rachel Reeves’ reckless rates rise has left pubs plundered and Labour in chaos – The Sun Says

White House ‘deeply concerned’ about plans for London’s Chinese super-embassy’s secret rooms

“The White House is “deeply concerned” by Labour’s plan to approve a Chinese “super-embassy” with a secret basement metres from sensitive cables. A senior Trump administration official raised fears that China could exploit the UK’s critical infrastructure after The Telegraph on Monday revealed unredacted drawings showing 208 secret rooms beneath the site of the old Royal Mint in central London. One of the sections reveals an underground chamber measuring up to 40 metres across and two to three metres deep, which will sit alongside fibre-optic cables transmitting data between the City of London and Canary Wharf. Despite the apparent security risk, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve the embassy before the Jan 20 deadline. But Labour backbenchers condemned the proposed development on Tuesday, telling Sir Keir not to reward China’s “bullying” by signing off the plans. Matthew Pennycook, the planning minister, also declined to answer whether any minister had seen the unredacted plans before they were published by The Telegraph. The hidden room also contains hot-air extraction systems, which could suggest the installation of heat-generating equipment such as advanced computers able to be used for espionage. Plans show that China aims to rebuild the outer basement wall, potentially enabling it to tap the cables. The prospect of Beijing gaining access to US data has triggered alarm bells in Washington amid fears of a growing divide with the UK over issues of national security and freedom of speech.” – Daily Telegraph

• ‘Deeply concerned’ Trump officials raise alarm over ‘Peking’s poodle’ Starmer surrender – Daily Express
• UK forced to reassure US no sensitive data sent near China embassy – The Times
• Chinese embassy to get green light despite ‘threat to City’ – CityAM
• Insider trading and market disruption: How new Chinese embassy could harm the UK – The i

Comment:

• Not a single backbench MP backed the new spy base – sorry, I mean new embassy – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
• Keir Starmer has a massive problem – conscription won’t work in his loony-left Britain – Chris Riches, Daily Express

> Today:

News in brief:

• West Midlands Police is rotten to the core – David Spencer, The Spectator
• The Boriswave may yet be stopped – Charlie Cole, The Critic
• Sadiq can’t build any houses – Ben Hopkinson, CapX
• Starmer can’t win his war on Musk – Mary Harrington, UnHerd