The prime minister has championed digital ID at a meeting of the Cabinet this afternoon.
Sir Keir Starmer unusually held his weekly meeting with ministers this afternoon, rather than on Tuesday morning, as he was visiting a Eurofighter Typhoon production line in Lancashire earlier.
We’ve now been told a little of what was discussed in the Cabinet Room today.
Number 10 said the PM began by discussing the deal he signed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday afternoon.
Turkey has agreed to buy 20 Typhoon jets, of which around a third of components are built in the UK.
Starmer told the Cabinet the agreement is “the biggest fighter jet export deal in a generation, worth £8 billion and [will secure] 20,000 British jobs”.
The read-out says the PM also stressed that Turkey “did not just want a deal, but a strategic partnership”, similar to the agreement the UK signed with Norway, which is to produce five Type 26 frigates for the NATO nation, in a deal worth £10 billion.
Under those terms, Norway will operate the ships alongside eight British vessels, to strengthen NATO’s northern flank.
The read-out continues: “The prime minister said more and more countries were now seeing the UK as a stable and reliable NATO partner as a result of these deals, securing jobs at home in the UK.”
The PM also asked the leader of the Commons and the Lords to update ministers on business in both Houses.
He then advocated for the roll-out of digital ID, which has led to widespread opposition away from government.
Starmer said the scheme will give people “much greater agency over their own lives”, comparing it to existing systems in Denmark, Estonia and India.
He also said it would “not be mandatory”, but added it will be required by all UK adults who want to be employed, and will also be used to access “wider government services”.
Continuing his campaign in favour of digital ID, Starmer spoke about his visit to a Lloyds bank branch in Brighton last week, where he championed the scheme.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, is said to have talked about “many people felt the government no longer worked” and said ministers must “build a new state and shut down the legacy state, with digital ID making people’s experience of that new state fundamentally better”.
Ed Miliband, the former PM turned energy secretary, then spoke about COP30 and said it will be a “key moment for international cooperation”.
Starmer is said to have picked up, calling climate change “the challenge of our time” and “the single biggest opportunity”.
Finally, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke about Hurricane Melissa hitting Jamaica this evening and “underlined the importance of COP”.
