Digital ID

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Monday 8th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I have scanned the Labour manifesto, in which ID cards do not feature, and I have sought the evidence that ID cards prohibit illegal working, but there is none. Yet we are told that digital ID is the way forward.

I understand the argument about the data in the pocket, the convenience, everything in one place, and data checks for work and rental accommodation. However, this project is not about holding information about ourselves on our phones for our own convenience. It is about data—big, augmented data from different places and different sources, intersecting someone’s health records with their records in the Department for Work and Pensions, or Home Office records with HMRC or local government, about where we live, where we work and where we are. Mix them together with facial recognition technology, run the algorithms and see what we get.

Of course, this Government would not dream of doing such a thing, but a future one might—indeed, a future one would. Following the passing of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, academics have shown that aggressive actors will have access to this data and therefore we have to be warned about data theft and identity theft, which are not uncommon today.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Rachael Maskell]

I will just press on.

If DWP data and NHS data are in the wrong hands, social security will become insecurity; if Home Office data contains someone’s location, then the ICE teams will find them. This could be our future. Behind our screens, the datasets that researchers use for good will be used by others for ill.

Of course there is interest in digital ID. We see the revolving door of those from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and people from his former office; there is Larry Ellison of Oracle; after all, he already has 185 contracts with the Government. He recognises the power, the money and the opportunity, which is why we cannot afford to go there.

We have already heard about the scale of the money. However, I must say that the interest in this project will only expose us all to the risks of future Governments and what they might do with our data. It will not then be just about each one of us individually, but about that knowledge being used to determine each one of our futures, including our mortgages, our social security, our health and our economics. Let us not forget that the insurance companies are also eager to lay their hands on this data.

Technology may be agnostic, but it will have behind it people who most certainly are not and will be using its power, augmented for their own gain and opportunity. This House cannot go into this space. Parliament needs to wake up to the reality that it is not about what is on our phone, but about the data behind that and how it will be misused in future. I beg the Government to stop. The fact that this was not in the manifesto is enough to tell us all that it does not have public consent and therefore should not proceed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rebecca Long Bailey]

I completely agree. We have seen the consequences of reckless data sharing already. All too often, migrant victims of domestic abuse, rape and trafficking have been frightened to report crimes because police forces routinely pass on their information to immigration officers. The harm is real: the offenders go unpunished and communities are less safe.

Even if we set aside the civil liberties concerns, there is a basic practical problem here: UK Governments, of all stripes, do not have a good track record of keeping our data safe. The number of serious cyber incidents is rising year on year. Critical institutions from the British Library to the Legal Aid Agency to the One Login platform have already been criticised for major security flaws.

[Sarah Edwards]

My constituents have also raised concerns, particularly around cyber-security. One of my constituents was told by the DWP that they were defrauding the child benefit system when they were not, because they had had data stolen. I am concerned that our Government systems need to be far better, so that if such a thing happened, someone could demonstrate that they were the genuine holder of that data.

[Rebecca Long Bailey]

My hon. Friend is spot on, and we all have constituency stories that replicate her experience.

Finally, there is the question of exclusion. As we have heard, millions of people in Britain do not have reliable digital access, and millions more do not have the basic digital skills required to navigate systems like this. Introducing mandatory digital ID risks shutting people out of work, housing, healthcare and public services, so I urge the Minister: for the sake of our rights, our safety and our democracy, drop this plan.

EU-UK Summit

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Thursday 22nd May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy) and the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) on securing this important debate.

I am delighted to join my parliamentary colleagues in celebrating the new agreement that our Government have confirmed with the European Union. While the Opposition try to figure out why, all of a sudden, they are against the fishing deal they wrote, working people such as my Tamworth constituents are relieved that they have a Government delivering on what is important to them—cheaper food in the supermarkets, better policing of our borders and less needless bureaucracy getting in the way of free trade. As a member of the Business and Trade Committee, I am doubly heartened to see that the Government’s work is in line with many of our published recommendations. In feedback submitted to the Committee, the Agricultural Industries Confederation stated:

“An SPS veterinary agreement has the biggest potential to positively impact UK agricultural supply chains businesses.”

The Government’s phytosanitary agreement will enable our farmers to trade and shave pounds off every weekly shop.

In collaboration with the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, I am actively investigating avenues for reducing commercial energy costs. National Grid estimates that bringing the European and British energy markets into closer alignment could save the economy £350 million a year. I therefore commend the announced link between our emissions trading systems as a positive first step towards reducing consumer and business energy costs.

After years of unreasonable Governments embarrassing us abroad and stifling business at home, Britain is back as a proud, sovereign, free-trading nation. While some in this place try to spin a £360 million investment in our seaside communities as bad for fishing, my constituents and I will be celebrating cheaper food in our supermarkets, more efficient energy markets and shorter queues at the airport.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Bonavia (Stevenage) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

13. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)]

We will deliver a cross-Government violence against women and girls strategy, and we are already taking significant steps to ensure that VAWG is treated as the national emergency that it is. That includes embedding the first domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms under Raneem’s law, starting in five police forces, and further extending the roll-out of domestic abuse protection orders to Cleveland and north Wales.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jess Phillips]

I thank SADA for the amazing work that it does. In December 2024, we prioritised confirming funding for those delivering frontline services. In the next few weeks, we will work on agreeing decisions about our wider budget that will support the Government’s ambition of halving VAWG in a decade, to deliver on our manifesto commitments.

[Sarah Edwards]

On International Women’s Day, our community in Tamworth came together to not only celebrate the achievements of women, but reflect on the important issue of the safety of women and girls. Local women Tamanna and Mckenzie took the initiative to organise a walk-and-talk event, bringing together key organisations, including the UP Creative Hub community interest company and Tamworth Street Angels. They had never organised an event before, and they managed to pull together 50 women in just two weeks. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Tamanna and Mckenzie on that fantastic event, and on their dedication to raising awareness of such an important issue?

[Jess Phillips]

Absolutely, gladly. Tamanna and Mckenzie deserve all our praise. It is infectious; the first time we do such a thing often leads to the second. The rising of the women is the rising of us all.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

6. What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on tackling violence against women and girls.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

13. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)]

I am not sure that Mr Speaker would allow me to go into quite that level of detail on the amount of discussions I have with the Home Secretary on this issue. It would take hours, because this happens every single day. This weekend, the Government announced that we will be spending £13.1 million to create a national policing centre for violence against women and girls and public protection, and that is due to launch in April.

[Jess Phillips]

I thank the hon. Lady, and I am sure the entire House agrees with the tone with which she speaks about domestic abuse in her area. The National Audit Office wrote what, frankly, can only be considered to be a damning indictment of the previous Government’s violence against women and girls strategy. We will do everything we can to ensure prevention, both through education and with those who perpetrate, which will be a fundamental part of our strategy. Unlike previous strategies, we will actually do it.

[Sarah Edwards]

Many women fear violence and assault on nights out, even more so when alcohol is involved and it is dark. In my constituency, the Tamworth street angels do vital work to ensure that people feel safe in the town centre during the evenings, and they offer support when women need it most. Does the Minister agree that we should support such organisations, and will she join me in congratulating the Tamworth street angels on their recent King’s award for voluntary service?

[Jess Phillips]

I join my hon. Friend in saying what amazing and vital work is being done by people like the Tamworth street angels. It is unacceptable that women feel unsafe when they are out and about, and this Government seek not only to change legislation—on spiking, for example—to make sure our laws are right, but to make sure that, on the ground, we are training people in pubs, clubs, bars and across our night-time economy. We can write words on goatskin, but when the rubber hits the road in places like Tamworth, we need people like the street angels to make sure it actually means something.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am deeply concerned by what is happening in the west bank. We have raised it a number of times in the various exchanges that we have had, but I am deeply concerned about it, and we are doing everything we can to alleviate the situation.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

Q12. Tamworth castle, which boasts 1,000 years of history, was recently added to the “Heritage at Risk” register following my campaign about its future. Despite needing repairs, it provides a unique and valuable learning environment, welcoming both the public and schools to learn about Tamworth’s rich history. Will the Prime Minister visit Tamworth to see how an 11th-century castle is providing 21st-century learning opportunities while promoting local heritage?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her kind invitation. I particularly enjoyed Tamworth’s recent FA Cup heroics against Tottenham, although they did not quite win. We are committed to protecting our most vulnerable heritage, and I know that Historic England is working closely with Tamworth borough council to preserve this local treasure for future generations. It is particularly important to continue school visit programmes, supporting our mission to give every child the best opportunities in life.

Debate on the Address

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

It is wonderful to be here following the first King’s Speech under a Labour Government since 1950. When Labour was elected to form this country’s next Government, it was on the promise of change. Today’s King’s Speech wastes no time in doing just that. The package of legislation announced today places growth at its heart, with an ambitious plan to raise living standards for working people.

I welcome the announcement of a crime and policing Bill. I know how important it is to my constituents in Tamworth that they feel safe, but under the Conservatives Tamworth’s police front desk was shut down. The very notion of community policing was developed by former Tamworth MP and Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, so it is with great irony that local residents are currently without a public police station. I have written to the Home Secretary since her appointment and look forward to working with her to make that a reality.

I visited the Central England Co-op in my constituency to speak to staff and USDAW––Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers—officials about the abuse they face on a daily basis, the consistent threat of violence from shoplifting, and that, as a business, the Co-op lost more than £70 million due to shoplifting last year. I am therefore pleased that the Prime Minister has wasted no time in delivering a Bill that will establish a new criminal offence of assaulting shopworkers.

In Tamworth, the Holiday Inn has been used for asylum purposes for years and the simple reality is that residents want their hotel back. Tamworth benefits from local tourism and, as I have said before in this Chamber, the Holiday Inn should be for holidays. I therefore welcome today’s announcement that the border security, asylum and immigration Bill includes plans to end asylum hotel use. It was great to host the then shadow Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley (Yvette Cooper), in Tamworth earlier this month to brief her on the situation. I look forward to working with her in the coming weeks to discuss the issue in greater detail.

My constituency of Tamworth and its villages is at high-risk when it comes to flooding incidents, but amidst chronic underfunding of the Environment Agency we remain fundamentally unprepared to tackle it. Labour has set out plans for a flood resilience taskforce and I look forward to presenting it with the findings of the flooding summit I hosted in March this year. The summit, which was well-attended, explored new ways of working and key strategic approaches by local, regional and national stakeholders.

All around us we can see that the NHS is struggling. Over a decade of austerity and consistent de-prioritisation by Conservative Governments have seen local people hit hardest. I have had too many conversations with constituents waiting months for appointments or cancer screenings, or in mental health crises and unable to get support. In my own constituency of Tamworth, the closure of the George Bryan Centre means my constituents need to travel many miles to access mental health support. Many constituents will also welcome the children’s wellbeing Bill, which promises to raise standards in education, and requires schools to co-operate with local authorities on special educational needs and disabilities inclusion. It is great to see, on day 13 of a Labour Government, that we are already addressing this important issue.

Many people in Tamworth have had to endure the cost of living crisis that they did not ask for, nor do they deserve. While Tamworth’s incredible network of community groups has gone above and beyond to fill the gap in support, the reality is that the Conservative Government’s mismanagement of the economy hit the most vulnerable people in my constituency the hardest.

We must take action to address soaring rent prices. During the last few weeks, my team has still been supporting people who have been made homeless or who are at risk of being made homeless. It is fantastic to see the Prime Minister put forward a renters’ rights Bill that gives greater rights and protections for millions of people who are renting and unable to afford their own home, and that it includes proposals to abolish section 21 no-fault evictions. That should have been done a long time ago.

It was great to open the Business Commission West Midlands event in Parliament last week, along with the chamber of commerce. I will be working alongside businesses, just as I have been over the past eight months, to spearhead investment and the strategic priorities to support the town centre economy and local businesses. Tamworth has a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and it also has huge untapped potential. The Prime Minister’s new English devolution Bill will see towns and cities given enhanced powers and duties in respect of strategic planning, local transport networks, skills, and employment support, enabling them to create jobs and improve living standards. That is important to me, because, Madam Deputy Speaker, Tam-worth it!

Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.—(Gerald Jones.)

Debate to be resumed tomorrow.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Thursday 29th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

13. What recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of procurement fraud during the covid-19 pandemic.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

15. What recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of procurement fraud during the covid-19 pandemic.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Alex Burghart)]

The Government’s “Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2022” includes data from the first year of the Government’s response to the pandemic. The report suggests that in 2020-21, Government Departments and arm’s length bodies reported a total of £124.6 million of detected procurement fraud. The same report showed that at the end of March 2021, some £88.2 million of fraud and error had been recovered within covid-19 schemes. Since then, crucially, further funds have been recovered and the Government will continue to update the House as fresh data becomes available.

[Alex Burghart]

This Government take PPE fraud extremely seriously. To remind the House of the figures, 1.8% of expenditure on PPE was lost to fraud at a time when there was the most extraordinary public crisis in several generations and we were competing in an extremely overheated international market. To date, we have recovered more than a quarter of that 1.8% and the fight to recover more continues. PPE procurement is subject to ongoing contract management controls, active dispute resolution and recovery action. The law is on our side and we are using it.

[Sarah Edwards]

The covid procurement scandal upset many people, and rightly so. I spoke with a fantastic local business in Tamworth, Wearwell (UK), which was manufacturing PPE as part of the regional procurement but was cut out of the process during the pandemic. The UK must be prepared in the event of another pandemic, and British manufacturing offers a greater response time and a more stable supply chain. When will we return to regional procurement to ensure that local businesses are prioritised when providing PPE for the nation?

[Alex Burghart]

I welcome the hon. Lady to what I think are her first Cabinet Office questions. She is right to draw attention to the fantastic textile manufacturing that exists in the region in which her constituency sits. She will have heard me talk about the Procurement Act 2023, which was passed last year and will make sure that small and medium-sized enterprises, which by their nature are often local enterprises, will have a bigger share of public procurement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the Patient Safety Commissioner and her team for their work on this important issue—one that I know my right hon. Friend has spoken about in the past. Of course, first and foremost, our sympathies remain with those affected by sodium valproate. We are focused on improving the system and how it listens to patients, and it is right that the Government carefully consider the report’s recommendations. The Department of Health and Social Care will respond to the report in due course, and the Health Secretary will keep the House updated on a regular basis.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

Q14. Many of my constituents, such as local mum Jessica, have contacted me about special educational needs and disability support. Jessica’s son has waited years for an autism diagnosis, and he is not expected to have an education, health and care plan in place by the time he goes to secondary school. Will the Prime Minister confirm that students who need an EHCP will get one so that they can thrive in school?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course, we want to see every child thrive at school, which is why we have tripled the amount going into special educational needs for capital places and put more money into support ECHPs. I am sorry to hear about the case that the hon. Lady mentions. I will ensure that we continue to look at this matter in particular, because, as she said, we want every child to thrive at school.