2025: Week 40 - Digital ID, Unemployment and Renter's RIghts

This week was back to Westminster!  On Monday I spoke in the House about Digital ID cards and highlighted that many areas of Devon are still without decent mobile signal.  This would cause significant problems if my constituents were required to carry Digital ID cards on their phones.  I also asked the Minister whether the software developed to create and hold the data would be UK built and owned, and asked for guarantees that our data would not be sold off to questionable firms such as Palantir. 

Finally, I pointed out that rogue employers who offer cash in hand jobs to people who may not have the right to work in the UK wouldn’t suddenly start checking credentials even if they were presented digitally. 

The Minister stated that our data would be kept within the UK, but declined to comment on my other questions, aside from to ask me to write to her outlining how much of my constituency are digitally excluded.  Whether that helps remains to be seen, watch this space….

It will come as no surprise to a lot of people that the latest figures from the ONS show that the rate of UK unemployment rose to 4.8% in the three months to August, up from 4.7% in the three months to July; and wage growth fell to 4.7% in the three months to August.

This seems to be a direct result of the Chancellor's jobs tax which has left the Government up a creek without a paddle, snuffing-out growth in our high streets and small businesses, keeping people out of work and increasing the benefits bill even further. Wage growth is almost non-existent against inflation. 

This approach cannot continue while jobs are lost, and shops are shuttered. The Chancellor must take the handbrake off our economy and go for growth. Aside from immediately scrapping the jobs tax, that means negotiating a bespoke UK-EU Customs Union to turbocharge our economy and raise billions of pounds to protect public services and struggling families.

It was with great relief that the Government finally agreed to the Lib Dem amendment to the Renter’s Rights Bill, which will ensure that Ministry of Defence accommodation will be assessed annually and reported on.  For too long our service families have had to live in accommodation that is outdated, in poor condition and in some cases, uninhabitable. 

 The move creates a new legal duty to identify and fix substandard homes for military families who have faced issues such as black mould, flooding, pest infestations and unreliable heating or hot water.

The change comes after the Government initially rejected the proposal, before conceding following mounting pressure from the party.

The Lib Dems have been campaigning for years to address this scandal, and I am pleased to say that we have achieved the first step in ensuring that service families will finally be given housing that is fit for purpose.