Petition against digital ID cards tops 1.5 million signatures
A petition calling for the UK Government not to introduce digital ID cards has received more than 1.5 million signatures.
Sir Keir Starmer announced on Friday that the Government would introduce a new ID system by 2029 that would be mandatory for people working in the UK.
The petition called on the Government to commit to not introducing digital ID cards, saying: “We think this would be a step towards mass surveillance and digital control, and that no one should be forced to register with a state-controlled ID system.”
It received more than 6,800 signatures in an hour on Saturday morning as it reached more than 1,564,000 entries.
Debate
Petitions on the UK Government which receive more than 100,00 signatures will be considered for a debate.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticised the planned scheme, calling it “an anti-British card”.
Writing in the Daily Express, he said: “The Labour Government’s plan to impose digital ID cards on all adults will do nothing to combat illegal immigration. But it will give the state more power to control the British people.”
Ministers had previously said the ID would only be needed as proof someone has the right to work in the UK as part of a bid to cut illegal immigration.
But Darren Jones, who is spearheading the policy as chief secretary to the Prime Minister, suggested digital ID could have much wider uses in future.
‘Bedrock’
He told the Global Progress Action summit in London: “If we get this digital ID system working and the public being with us, that will be the bedrock of the modern state and will allow for really quite exciting public service reform in the future.”
Earlier, Sir Keir had told the same conference that digital ID would help convince voters the immigration system was “fair”, saying: “Decent, pragmatic, fair-minded people, they want us to tackle the issues that they see around them.”
People will not be required to carry the ID, which will be held on smartphones, or asked to produce it.
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This is just another scheme to tackle ‘Boriswave’ as the telegraph calls the boat crossings. But, the legal citizens seem to still be the losers anyway. Faraaaage may be against this scheme, but he is the guy who screams the loudest when another boat arrives.
‘Boriswave’ is just one part of the ‘Fat Shanks Effect’…
The ‘Racistwave’ is another major leap forward thanks to the moat dweller…
Darren Jones MP Solicitor by trade…so he wants to have total control over us does he, the worst kind of politician…
From Log Cabin to Downing Street…
Agreed, UK governments have been mooting ID cards for Britons since world war two & repeatedly failed to convince the populace at large. Starmer is now using the immigration debate as his reason for introducing them. So he’s just another long line of politicians trying to con the country so as not to declare the real intent ie. Control.
My first reaction to this idea is ‘what practical difference is it actually likely to make?’
Because if you’re already informally ’employing’, for instance, a gang of middle easterners in your car-wash business and paying them less than minimum wage each day, just in cash from the takings and with no tax liability on their part because they’re in ‘beneath the radar’ jobs, are you now actually going to start demanding that they show you digital ID?
Not a chance!
Presumably when there’s a tipoff it’ll be much quicker to check everyone is eligible to work meaning teams can check more employers per day. And the link with HMRC can flag if that working is happening off the books (even if the workers are all legit) so rogue employers are also spotted in the same checks.
Maybe, or maybe digital ID and e-visas will spawn a hacked ID industry on the dark web?
You already have a government id to access your tax account. Is that on the dark web?
No but that’s usually kept in a secure password manager or somewhere locked away. A digital id card will be on an app on a potentially insecure device or as a physical card that can be stolen/cloned. These will be expected to be carried on the person at all times (that’s the point of them).
These are separate points about how it’s implemented. There’s no reason to mandate an app (government will have to buy everyone a smartphone if they do) when a driving licence style card will do nor must it be required to be carried at all times.
What also mustn’t happen is for it to be outsourced. And citizens should have control of which optional services it can be used for as well as the option to be alerted when it is used.
You could be right – that’s the only conceivably arguable positive that might come out of this idea, as far as I can see.
What is the link to sign the petition?
I’ve just added it to the story. Thanks for the reminder.
It’s only the first year (2nd year?) and Starmer is already out of ideas. Labour has barely been more right wing. Regurgitating failed labour policies isn’t the way to win support, it’s a way to gift votes and byelections to your opponents.
If it’s anything like the Labours Senedd response to large petitions , you know what you can expect when it closes in January 2026.
Thinking about the one signed by people in 51 countries?
“We are Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish. Very many of us don’t identify as ‘British’ any longer if we ever did. You have no moral right to impose an unwanted identity on us against our will. Would you support Ukrainians being forced to carry Russian ID’s? No, so take a running jump Keir Starmer. Away, you, and your ‘Britcard’.”
Have I got this right? Labour (from their website I see that one Of Mr Starmer’s 5 missions is “Breaking down barriers to opportunity”) have decided that to be able to get a job everyone has to have a smartphone so that they can have a digital ID even though we have to provide details like NI numbers to be employed and anyone who is self employed eg a plumber is not really going to have to show me his digital ID before I let him fix my leaking pipes. If that is the case then who is going to… Read more »
Apparently the number one concern is now illegal immigration. To crack down on that we all need to be inconvenienced because you can’t tell who’s legal just by looking.
I don’t understand how they Really know that each of our IDs are correct before they issue fancy electronic ones? If they use the existing identification that we already have to prove that we are who we say we are why do we need to spend money that we haven’t got on issuing more ID? And if our existing Identification isn’t secure then how do they know our digital ID is correct?
I’ve just found out that Euan Blair owns an it company that provides digital IDs If that is so then everything makes sense
Ha Ha,, Ha,
Tony ‘Gaza’ Blair, out goes Mandy in comes Destiny on the inside rail, the latest from the Blair stables…