Part of Science, Innovation and Technology – in the House of Commons at on 17 December 2025.
Lincoln Jopp
Conservative, Spelthorne
Last night in the Strangers Bar, I bumped into a very influential Labour Back Bencher who told me with great authority that digital ID simply is not going to happen. That is good news, of course, because it is going to 1.8 billion quid we have not got, and it is deeply unpopular in the country. Why does the Secretary of State not give us all an early Christmas present and simply announce that she is ditching the policy today?
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
A Backbencher is a Member who holds no official position in government or in his or her party. Back benchers sit on the back benches in the Chamber.
