𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour is considering rolling out digital ID cards to stop migrants working in the black economy.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Cabinet on Tuesday he will explore “options around digital ID” as it emerged asylum seekers could be moved into converted warehouses.

A source told the Daily Express: “It’s our duty to look at whether digital ID could help to bolster the immigration system.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Tuesday also revealed Labour is considering using “industrial sites” as asylum accommodation.

This prompted a flurry of questions about whether the Government was planning to convert warehouses into dorms for migrants.

And ministers are homing in on proposals to introduce ID cards to stop migrants working illegally in the UK.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Government was “looking at” introducing national ID cards to stop illegal migrants working in the black economy.

He added: “We’re willing to look at what works when it comes to tackling illegal migration.”

More than 32,000 people are currently staying in hotels, costing taxpayers £5.77m every day.

Military sites, former student accommodation, abandoned care homes, empty tower blocks and converted houses and flats could all be used to house asylum seekers.

And Ms Cooper revealed “industrial sites” are now under active consideration as well.

She told LBC: “Yes, we do also want to see alternative sites, more appropriate sites, including looking at military and industrial sites as well.

“But the core of it has to be clearing the numbers out of the system and preventing as many people getting into the system in the first place.”

Sunday Express columnist Nick Ferrari then asked the Home Secretary: “Is it a disused Carpet Warehouse or something? What is an industrial site?”

Ms Cooper continued: “Well, we’re looking with other government departments and looking with the local councils at what some more appropriate sites might be, and certainly more appropriate than asylum hotels. We have managed to cut the bill for these costly asylum hotels by nearly a billion pounds this year.”

But Mr Ferrari hit back: “But is it a warehouse? Is an industrial site a warehouse?”

The Home Secretary told LBC: “There are a range of different things that we’re looking at…”

Pressed again on whether industrial sites meant warehouses, Ms Cooper said: “That’s one of the things that’s been looked at. But we will provide updates when we’ve got the practical plans.

“What I’m not going to do, I’m doing the opposite, basically, of what the previous government did, because they used to just announce a whole load of things and then not actually deliver any of them.

“And I think that undermined trust.”

Speaking on LBC, Ms Cooper admitted that it was not appropriate for asylum seekers to be housed in £300,000 three-bedroom contemporary town houses in a village in Suffolk, as revealed on Monday.

She said: “That’s why we need to reduce the overall size of the asylum system, so that we have fewer people in asylum accommodation in the first place. We need fewer people in the asylum system so we don’t have people in costly accommodation that is being funded by the taxpayer for long periods of time.”

Ministers have set aside £500m to invest in a “new, more sustainable accommodation model” as they scramble to close 210 migrant hotels.

This “basic” accommodation, under the new cross-Government model, will be “used on a temporary basis” to house asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be processed.

The Home Office’s asylum accommodation providers are said to be looking for another 5,000 properties across the country to house 20,000 people.

Insiders suggested each flat would have two bedrooms on average, with space to house four migrants.

Labour has vowed to close every migrant hotel by 2029.

But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday revealed he wants to accelerate hotel closures.

And Ms Cooper on Tuesday insisted Labour could achieve this.

A key part of Labour’s plan will be to slash the asylum backlog, of some 51,000 cases.

The Home Secretary told MPs the Home Office must slash the asylum appeals backlog to end the hotel crisis.

She said: “The biggest obstacle to reducing the size of the asylum system and to ending hotel use.

“Tens of thousands of people in asylum accommodation are currently waiting for appeals and under the current system that figure is to grow.

“With an average wait time of 54 weeks.

“We have already funded thousands of additional sitting days this year.”

A new independent body will be created to speed up asylum appeals, Ms Cooper said.