Sir Keir Starmer believes that Britain could “gain a significant advantage” by expanding the government’s recently announced Digital ID from just covering right to work to other areas.

And he told journalists en route to Mumbai for a two-day trade summit, that “there is a case to be made about the benefits of voluntary ID into other areas”.

The announcement of compulsory Digital ID to be able to work legally, was said to be to help reduce small boat crossings, which have surged under the Labour Government.

Thirty five thousand people have crossed the channel illegally so far this year.

Besides working alongside France and Germany, to disrupt the smuggling gangs and thwart crossings, the Prime Minister has acknowledged the pull factors driving people to cross the whole of Europe to claim asylum on UK shores.

The PM said: “We need to address the fact that too many people can come to this country and work illegally.

“And that’s why ID mandatory for working is really important.”

Earlier this summer, net support for Digital ID stood at 35 per cent, but plummeted to -14 per cent after Mr Starmer’s announcement, according to pollsters More in Common.

Within days, comments from Peter Kyle, the Business Secretary, implied the government was looking at the scheme much more broadly.

Now it is clear that Labour are looking at it for other areas too.

The Prime Minister told journalists: “I actually think it would be a good passport.

“You know, I don’t know how many times the rest of you have had to look in the bottom drawer for three bills when you want to get your kids into school or apply for this or apply for that, drives me to frustration.”

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He went on to say that in India “they’ve already done ID and made a massive success of it. So one of the meetings I’ll be having is about ID, in relation to that.”

India’s Aadhar scheme – holds the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, retinal and finger-print scans of over a billion people.

The UK government claims it has saved India over $10billion a year.

Yet many are concerned about state overreach and the information being used as a means of control, as well as the potential for data hacks.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman admitted “a slight pivot away from it being focused mainly on tackling immigration,” and explained how India has “rolled (digital ID) out to 1.4 billion Indians. It’s used 80 million times a day.”

He also disclosed that the PM has met “the founder of India’s digital ID system” while in Mumbai, and “it was an opportunity for him to hear about the inceptions of it in India, what has been used for all the benefits to people.”

He said: “And obviously, as part of you know what, we’ve set out on digital ID.

“Obviously we’ve set out the work on making digital ID mandatory, on proving the right to work.

“But as the PM said on the plane, there are also other use cases around voluntary use of digital ID that could make people’s lives easier and access to public services easier.”