UK’s Starmer government makes its stand on mandatory digital ID

The UK’s Labour government has introduced a plan to issue free, mandatory digital ID to all people eligible to work in the Kingdom, Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer announced Friday. The mechanism of enforcement is Right to Work checks, which will have to be carried out with digital ID, as currently governed under the UK’s Digital Identity and Attributes Framework.

“For too many years, it’s been too easy for people to come here, slip into the shadow economy, and remain here illegally,” Starmer said in an address at the Global Progress Action Summit in London laying out his reasoning for introducing the credential.

The government “will make a new free of charge digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this parliament,” he says.

“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that.”

So far, Right to Work checks have largely been performed in the UK with National Insurance numbers, which provide no way to verify the identity of the bearer.

Many people and members of the media in the UK add “cards” to the end of the phrase “digital ID” as a matter of course, but the plan is to issue credentials to mobile phones. Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander noted on BBC Radio Scotland that “it’s not called a BritCard, and it isn’t even a card,” The Guardian reports, as the government began responding to howls of outrage and an official petition objecting to the plan. The petition has blown past the 100,000 signatures necessary to trigger a parliamentary debate, reaching a million signatories just prior to this article’s publication.

Telegraph columnist called the plan a “so-called ‘Brit Card’” and “a sinister Trojan horse” in an opinion piece with the tag “vaccine passports.”

Conservative Shadow Farming Minister Robbie Moore remarked that he does “not need a barcode,” as he is “not a tin of beans.”

Labour MP Bell Ribiero-Addy, identified as being from the party’s left wing by the Telegraph, called the plan “alarming.”

The reactions are all very familiar.

The digital ID scheme builds on the GOV.UK digital wallet, where digital IDs will reside, along with mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs).

Potential benefits and uses

UK digital IDs will do more than Right to Work checks, though. They will ease applications for driving licenses, childcare and welfare, according to the government’s announcement. They will ease access to tax records.

People in the UK will not have to carry digital IDs around with them all the time, or produce them on demand, the government says.

The announcement cites the examples of Australia, where digital IDs can be used for a range of private sector services, Estonia’s provision of child benefits and health records, Denmark’s integration of digital ID and student records, and India’s claimed $10 billion in total annual savings through reduced welfare fraud and “leakage.”

A little context

Liberal Democrat Science, Innovation and Technology Spokesperson Victoria Collins said her party “cannot support a mandatory digital ID where people are forced to turn over their private data just to go about their daily lives.”

Collins claims the move will turn digitally excluded people into criminals.

“What’s sometimes overlooked is that the UK already has a robust framework in place,” Yoti Chief Policy and Regulatory Officer Julie Dawson told Biometric Update in an email on the eve of the announcement. “Through the government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), certified providers like Yoti are already carrying out millions of age and identity checks every month, supporting Right to Work, Right to Rent, DBS, and more.

“This thriving private sector ecosystem shows that digital ID is not a future concept, it’s here today, trusted by businesses and millions of people across the UK.

“As conversations about a national digital ID move forward, our focus at Yoti remains clear: to keep building trust, serving our customers, and ensuring digital ID continues to work seamlessly for individuals and organisations. Giving consumers choice about whether they opt for a government ID and/or use a private ID provider like Yoti is going to be key.”

Big Brother Watch is also concerned about the impact on “daily lives,” seemingly implying that people perform Right to Work checks daily. The argument that “(d)igital IDs would do absolutely nothing to deter small boats” appears on more solid ground, and echoes Power’s column, in a strong indication that the scheme will either help the UK’s immigration situation, or be repealed by a future government.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  BritCard  |  digital ID  |  government services  |  identity verification  |  UK  |  UK digital ID  |  Yoti