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Shabana Mahmood admitted digital ID cards could be used for far more than checking whether migrants have the right to work in the UK. The new Home Secretary said the controversial scheme was a “no-brainer” if it prevents people “cheating the system”.

Ms Mahmood revealed it could be used to prevent benefit cheats from falsely claiming handouts. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has insisted digital ID cards were needed to prevent migrants from working in the UK’s booming black economy. But critics and privacy campaigners fear it could be expanded to cover a wider range of government services.

But the Home Secretary said: “For me, it’s always been a no-brainer if one of the results of having an ID card is to clamp down on the ability of people to cheat the system.

“It’s not just about the working environment, it’s benefits and all sorts of other areas.

“Ordinary people who work hard and are doing the right thing feel completely robbed when they see someone who does not play by the rules get away with it.”

And the Home Secretary, who Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy described as a “rising star” of the Labour movement, admitted she one day wants to hold the top job.

Asked during a fringe event at the Labour Party conference if she ever wanted to be leader, Ms Mahmood said: “If I answer that question, I’m not going to be Home Secretary any more.

“You shouldn’t believe anyone in politics who says they are not ambitious about the top job because they are basically lying to you.”

She then added: “I am very happy to be the Home Secretary and the only thing I’m focused on is being a successful Home Secretary, building a migration system and sorting out our streets.”

The new Home Secretary announced that foreign arrivals will have to work, make National Insurance contributions, learn English to a “high” standard, have a clean criminal record and give back to their communities to earn indefinite leave to remain.

And migrants will be forced to wait 10 years before they can apply, double the current time limit.

While these changes will not be applied retrospectively amid concerns over the Boris-wave, Ms Mahmood is considering separate changes to cover the 1.3million people who arrived between 2021 and 2024, it is understood.

Emergency plans are being drawn up amid fears that the health and social care visa was widely abused.

But Ms Mahmood said there was a “big difference” between her plans for indefinite leave to remain and Reform UK’s immigration policy.

The Home Secretary told a fringe event at Labour conference: “I think that there is a difference between where they are, which is to rip up the settled status of people who are already a part of us – there’s a big difference between that and what I’ve been talking about, which is to ask the question about whether the rules we currently have that help someone become a part of us are still rules that maintain public confidence.”

She suggested the social care visa system had been exploited by criminals, saying one of her constituents had told her “every drug dealer in Birmingham is now becoming a care provider”.