The Lead Untangles: Digital ID cards

Excessive state interference or a foundation for a modern UK? The Prime Minister is due to table a compulsory new ID - BritCards - for everyone in the UK - we've been here before, so what's changed?

The compulsory ID cards would be contained on a smartphone Pic: Image generated via Substack photos using AI

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The Prime Minister is expected to announce that he is pushing ahead with controversial plans to implement a new, compulsory digital ID scheme, ten years after Tony Blair’s first, failed, attempt to introduce digital IDs in the UK. The announcement has caused much controversy, with many opposed to a mandatory scheme.

Conversations around digital IDs, known as BritCards, have been ticking along since early summer, when the think tank closely associated with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, Labour Together, first published a policy draft for the new digital ID, known as “Brit Cards”. Starmer confirmed that the introduction of digital ID for British citizens was under consideration earlier this month.

Starmer believes a digital ID card, which would be downloaded onto smartphones and used by citizens to verify their identity and prove their right to certain entitlements in the UK (such as the right to work of claim benefits), and by employers and landlords to check the identity of prospective employees and tenants, would help to combat small boat crossings.

In July, Labour peer Harriet Harman told Sky News cracking down on the black economy and introducing ID cards would “make it more difficult for people to work illegally”.

But critics say mandatory ID cards would threaten the privacy and civil liberties of the public. Conservative former minister Sir David Davis, for example, who has campaigned against digital ID cards in the past, called them “profoundly dangerous.”

“While digital IDs and ID cards sound like modern and efficient solutions to problems like illegal immigration, such claims are misleading at best,” he said. “The systems involved are profoundly dangerous to the privacy and fundamental freedoms of the British people. No system is immune to failure, and we have seen time and again governments and tech giants fail to protect people’s personal data.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said introducing mandatory ID would be “very serious step that requires a proper national debate,” and has previously said it was “not really going to solve the problem” of illegal working in the UK.

Civil liberties and privacy rights groups, meanwhile, worry that it could lead to mass surveillance, tracking and profiling of members of the public.

Digital ID has proved a controversial policy since it was floated in the early 2000s by Tony Blair’s New Labour government, but the tide appeared to be turning before, with Keir Starmer saying in September: “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.”

Context

Tony Blair first attempted to introduce digital IDs in 2005, although his plans were eventually scrapped by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government in 2010. Since 2023, Blair’s think tank, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), has been calling for their introduction.

This week, a survey of more than 2,000 adults, by the TBI, saw 62 percent of people say they agree with introducing a form of digital ID alongside an app that would allow them to report things such as potholes and missed bin collections. (The TBI believes digital ID should be a way to help streamline citizens’ access to public services, not just to tackle illegal migration). Another poll, by Labour Together, found that almost half (49 percent) of the public support introducing mandatory digital identity cards.

However the privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch launched a petition calling on Starmer to reject proposals for a BritCard, garnering more than 120,000 signatures. It also found that 63 percent of the public would not trust the government with their digital security.

Digital IDs already exist in other countries, including Estonia, which has been hailed as a successful case. In Estonia, each citizen has their own identification number used for official documentation, healthcare, banking and taxes, allowing them to pay bills, vote, sign contracts and access their health information. In France, citizens have both an ID card and a smartphone app.

Proponents of digital IDs say they would provide a more consistent approach to verifying identity, simplify access to public services and save the government money, although it’s not clear how much.

Critics, meanwhile, are concerned about privacy, fearing that citizens may be subject to constant ID checks if they are known to be carrying theirs on their smartphone. Not only that, but they say that having vast amounts of personal information amassed on databases could leave us open to surveillance, tracking, profiling and cyber attacks and fraud. They also worry that some people may be excluded due to digital poverty, whether due to age, disability or finances, which may leave them locked out of accessing essential services.

What does digital ID actually do?

Employers already have to check that prospective candidates have the right to work in the UK, including via digital verification services that have been certified by the government. A Home Office online scheme also exists to verify the status of some non-British or Irish citizens, whose immigration status is held electronically.

Digital ID systems are linked to databases which amass huge amounts of personal information about the user, creating a digital trail of their interactions. Individuals would use their digital ID to prove they are who they say they are or that they are entitled to access specific services.

It’s not yet clear how the government would implement a digital ID policy, although they will be compulsory and UK-wide. According to Labour Together, who drew up a policy plan for a ‘BritCard’ in early June, a digital ID would be downloaded onto smartphones and could be instantly checked by employers or landlords using a free verifier app. A consultation will be needed to map out the practicalities, including how to make it work for those without a smartphone or passport.

What are people saying?

Jasleen Chaggar, Legal and Policy Officer for Big Brother Watch, told The Lead: “We all have something to fear from mandatory digital ID systems that require us to surrender our privacy rights in order to access public services to which we are entitled.

“A database which joins up all our government records and logs our interactions using a single unique identifier would be a civil liberties nightmare, leaving us exposed to mass surveillance, tracking and profiling, security breaches and data theft.

“The government must put our rights ahead of bureaucratic efficiency and abandon any plans to introduce digital ID.”

Alexander Iosad, director of government innovation at the Tony Blair Institute said: “Digital ID will dramatically simplify your experience of government. It will mean that reporting issues, applying for benefits, sorting your tax code, or booking appointments, are all done in a few taps, or even automatically, not in hours, days, or weeks.

“It is a crucial foundation for a new model of services that come to you, when you need them, based on fairness, control and convenience.”

Jeremy Corbyn said: “I firmly oppose the government’s plans for compulsory digital ID cards,” he wrote.

“This is an affront to our civil liberties, and will make the lives of minorities even more difficult and dangerous.

“It is excessive state interference — and must be resisted.”

Liberal Democrat technology spokesperson Victoria Collins said: “People shouldn’t be turned into criminals just because they can’t have a digital ID, or choose not to.”

Jim Killock, the executive director of Open Rights Group, said: “The digital visa schemes that are already in place for migrants are a stark warning of the harms caused by data errors, systems failures and an indifferent, hostile Home Office. People have been unable to travel, lost job offers and even been made homeless because of existing digital ID schemes.

“Labour are at risk of creating a digital surveillance infrastructure that will change everyone’s daily lives and establish a pre-crime state where we constantly have to prove who we are as we go about our daily lives.”

What happens next?

The proposals for a digital ID will require legislation, and the government is already facing opposition from privacy campaigners as well as opposing parties. The Liberal Democrats, who were considering ditching their longstanding opposition to digital ID, said they cannot back a compulsory scheme, while Reform UK and the Conservatives have dismissed the policy as “cynical” and a “gimmick”.

If legislation is passed, the technology is expected to be built on the government’s existing “One Login” infrastructure, which already allows citizens to access about 50 government services.

But, considering the furore, it’s unlikely digital ID cards will go through without a fight. ■

About The Lead Untangles: In an era where misinformation is actively and deliberately used by elected politicians and where advocates and opposers of beliefs state their point of view as fact, sometimes the most useful tool reporters have is to help readers make sense of the world.

The Lead Untangles is delivered each Friday by The Lead and focuses on a different complex, divisive issue with each edition. Is there something you’d like us to untangle, email ed@thelead.uk

About the author: Ella is a freelance journalist specialising in worker’s rights, housing, health, harm reduction and lifestyle. You can find her work in Prospect Magazine, Dazed, Observer Magazine, Women’s Health and - most importantly - here at The Lead.