Image credits: PickPik

The Labour government is planning to implement a new form of ID, a digital ID, possession of which will be mandatory, and failure to have one will presumably be criminalised.

This ID Card will be stored on our phones, and operate to prove identity, age, and residency status, with the stated aim of ‘simplifying access to government services and a range of uses across the private sector.’ 

The government is claiming that this initiative will help to tackle the ‘issue’ of illegal migration and illegal working. The issues with this aim and the Digital ID itself are almost staggering in their scope, importance, and in just how many sides of the political spectrum seem to agree about them.

The first issue we shall address is less to do with the ID scheme itself, but remains incredibly important in terms of how the government is framing Digital ID around immigration. The government’s language towards immigrants is dehumanising, claiming that people come here for the money, and not to escape bad situations, a political spin that is almost as harmful as many of their previous actions and statements.

Secondly, it must be said that it is already illegal for companies to willingly and knowingly hire people who do not have the right to work in the UK. As such, any company already doing it will ignore it, making this whole scheme impractical and immoral, as shown by countries like France, Germany, and Italy, which have already implemented similar systems and had them fail for this reason. 

However, it should not be said that a digital ID is a wholly bad idea; it does have some benefits, most especially in terms of efficiency and the ability to easily update the ID for circumstances like a change of name or legal gender. Unfortunately, these few benefits are vastly outweighed by the negatives and risks.

One of the other major reasons the government has given for implementing digital ID is to streamline British bureaucracy in an attempt to make it more efficient. Whilst this does sound logical, it ignores the reality that many systems that already exist are inefficient, meaning that people’s details will be open to security breaches, leaking private information.

There must also be questions asked about how much access and information smartphone companies will have on this, as the government is planning to store these digital ID cards on phones. Big Tech companies already have far too much information about us, and now it seems the government wants to provide them with even that personal information which stood a chance of still being ours alone.

In their own paper on this ID plan, the government talks positively of how 93% of adults in the UK own a phone and that this will therefore be a better system than our current physical ID system. However, considering that still leaves 7% of the population who will not be able to access this new digital ID, something which indeed would become a criminalised offence, this is clearly not something to be positive about. After all, the vast majority of that 7% will be people who, be it through age, economic status or some other factor, are unable to utilise or have a phone, and as such will be criminalised by this plan.

The truth of this matter is that this will just put everyone onto a system; digital is connectable, linkable and trackable. Indeed, the government has said that people’s digital IDs will be checkable against a central database, which whilst also how physical IDs already work, is far more concerning because of the digital nature of this new ID.

This is because of how things can all be tied to your digital ID, allowing for tracking and control, in fact we can look to China and see how a similar system has been formed there around a similar digital ID Card.

All of this is happening in the context of the fascist and authoritarian movements being made by this Government, and particularly with the Online Safety Act and the startling, and still growing, restrictions on speech and protests. This all points to an attempt to slowly move this country into fascism, after all doing it all slowly, piece by piece at a time, makes it harder for people to see what is happening and react.

And whilst it should be noted that the government has said that they are not currently planning to implement this beyond limited bureaucratic and employment spheres, statements made by the Labour Together thinktank, who proposed the policy, point to contrary ideas to further this into something more, that this ID card would become ‘Something that would become a familiar feature of daily life for everyone in the country.’ 

Furthermore, there is also always the risk of escalation, which considering both the actions of this current government, and the seemingly major risk of a far-right Reform majority or coalition government should serve to terrify any with the potential that this system will have for fascist overreach and control.

3 million people petitioned against the digital ID, and despite democracy and listening to the people of this country, the Starmer government entirely ignored them. We see this plan for what it really is: an attempt to increase government surveillance, their overreach, and their control.