Mandatory digital ID cards will combat migrants working illegally and make it easier for people to use Government services, Sir Keir Starmer has argued.
The Prime Minister has confirmed controversial plans to roll out digital ID needed to prove the right to work in Britain, but people will not be required to carry or asked to produce it.
It will be available to UK citizens and legal residents by the end of this Parliament, the PM said.
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At the Global Progress Action Summit in London on Friday, Sir Keir said the immigration system needed to be "fair" otherwise it would undermine "people's faith that we're on their side and their belief that the state can and will work for them”.
"That is why today I am announcing this Government will make a new, free of charge, digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this Parliament,” he said.
"Let me spell it out, you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It's as simple as that because decent, pragmatic, fair-minded people, they want us to tackle the issues that they see around them."
Politicians have been "squeamish" about saying things that are "clearly true", he said, adding that progressives needed "to look ourselves in the mirror and recognise where we allow our parties to shy away from people's concerns and let the politics of purity patronise people".
"For too many years, it's been too easy for people to come here, slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally because, frankly, we have been squeamish about saying things that are clearly true,” Sir Keir said.
"It's not compassionate left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages. But the simple fact is that every nation needs to have control over its borders. We do need to know who is in our country."
It is proposed that ID cards will stored on mobile phones in the same way as contactless payment cards or the NHS App.
The “Brit-Card” is expected to require legislation to become law.
It will allow the verification of a citizen’s right to live and work in the UK.
This means that anyone starting a new job or looking to rent a home would be required to show the card on a smartphone app.
It would then be checked against a central database of people entitled to live and work in the UK.
It is hoped this would reduce the attraction of working in the UK illegally, including for delivery companies, and help prevent soaring small boat crossings from France.
It comes amid calls from French President Emmanuel Macron for the UK to reduce “pull factors” for migrants to cross to come to the UK.
A total of 1,157 people arrived across the Channel last week, according to Home Office statistics.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister said an ID card system could play an “important part” in stopping illegal migration.
He said things had “moved on” since the debate over ID cards during the last Labour government in the 2000s.
“We all carry a lot more digital ID now than we did 20 years ago, and I think that, psychologically, it plays a different part,” Sir Keir told the BBC.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has also previously been positive about the policy.
Conservative former minister Sir David Davis, who campaigned against their introduction during Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government, said: “While digital IDs and ID cards sound like modern and efficient solutions to problems like illegal immigration, such claims are misleading at best.
“The systems involved are profoundly dangerous to the privacy and fundamental freedoms of the British people.”
He added: “No system is immune to failure, and we have seen time and again governments and tech giants fail to protect people’s personal data.
“If world-leading companies cannot protect our data, I have little faith that Whitehall would be able to do better.”
Sir John Major’s government ran a consultation on reintroducing them in the 1995, but they were never brought in.
His successor, Sir Tony, then considered a voluntary ID card, but it was not fully rolled out amid objections from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
He has since repeated his call for their introduction after leaving office.
Nigel Farage said he is “firmly opposed” to digital ID cards.
"It will make no difference to illegal immigration, but it will be used to control and penalise the rest of us,” the Reform UK leader said.
"The state should never have this much power."
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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed the plans as a "gimmick that will do nothing to stop the boats".
The Liberal Democrats said they would not support mandatory digital ID where people are "forced to turn over their private data just to go about their daily lives."
The party's technology spokeswoman Victoria Collins said: "Liberal Democrats cannot support a mandatory digital ID where people are forced to turn over their private data just to go about their daily lives.
"People shouldn't be turned into criminals just because they can't have a digital ID, or choose not to.
A spokesperson for the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) said: "Digital ID can and should be a gateway to government services, whether that's reporting potholes or even voting."
The UK has only previously had mandatory ID cards during wartime.
The last tranche were scrapped in 1952.
Labour campaign group Labour Together, which has been closely linked to Sir Keir and the Government, supported the move.
The thinktank published a 30-page document in June in favour of the Brit Card.
In the report, it said: “The Labour Government has the opportunity to build a new piece of civic infrastructure, something that would become a familiar feature of daily life for everyone in the country.
“It would support better enforcement of migration rules, and protect vulnerable British citizens from being wrongly denied their rights.”
The civil liberty group Big Brother Watch has again warned against their introduction.
