Starmer to introduce controversial new BritCard
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed his government’s plans for a new digital ID card.
All working adults in the UK will be required to hold the card, which aims to help tackle illegal immigration to the country by making it more difficult to apply for work and government services.
“This Government will make a new, free-of-charge, digital ID that will be mandatory for the right to work by the end of this Parliament,” Starmer wrote in an op-ed in The Telegraph on Friday (26 September).
“Without a digital ID, you will not be able to work or use our public services in the UK,” he said.
The cards are likely to face resistance from both privacy rights groups and members of the public with concerns over how the data is handled, stored, and used.
Starmer is also likely to face concerns that he is introducing a ‘nanny state’ – especially after concerns around the Online Safety Act and a perceived clampdown on free speech on social media.
The BritCard
Starmer is likely to have been influenced by left-leaning think tank Labour Together which published a paper in June pushing for the introduction of BritCard: a mandatory national digital identity.
The group suggested that the BritCard be issued free of charge to all those with the right to live or work in the UK, whether they are British-born nationals or legal migrants. It will be a verifiable digital credential downloaded onto a user’s smartphone, which could be instantly checked by employers or landlords using a free verifier app.
“By introducing a mandatory, universal, national identity credential – BritCard – 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,” the think tank said.
“It would support better enforcement of migration rules, and protect vulnerable British citizens from being wrongly denied their rights. It could end identity exclusion, resolving uncertainty and risk for those whose status is uncertain, and providing a quick, secure, privacy-preserving means for everyone to verify their identity and their migration status when dealing with government, when taking up a new job, or taking on property.”
Labour Together said the BritCard would lay the foundations for a fully-functioning digital identity system that would in time deliver huge benefits in terms of great efficiency and better outcomes in public services, as well as being a driver of growth, building on the existing One Login and Gov.UK Wallet.
“All the necessary elements of the technology needed to deliver BritCard exist and are already in use in multiple arenas. The additional cost would be modest relative to other forms of infrastructure – we estimate between £140-£400 million,” it said.
“Applying Internet-era test-and-learn design practices to the development of the BritCard would help to avoid the pitfalls faced by some public sector digital platforms.”
