UK dependencies have choice on national digital ID, need details

The UK Channel Islands will be included in the Kingdom’s mandatory digital ID scheme, but only if they want to.

Jersey and Guernsey will have the option to participate in the system, Digital Government and Data Minister Ian Murray says, according to the BBC.

But the Channel Islands are British dependencies that function as independent bailiwicks, or self-governing jurisdictions.

The reaction from Guernsey’s government immediately following UK PM Keir Starmer’s September announcement was that it “will seek clarity on any implications for islanders,” says Policy and Resources President Lindsay de Sausmarez, as reported by Guernsey Press.

On the Irish side of England and Wales, another self-governing dependency will have to make its own decision whether to adopt the UK digital ID. Ian Kermode, who Isle of Man Today calls a “prominent Manx advocate,” wrote to Chief Minister Alfred Cannan to publicly reject it.

Kermode offered the usual concerns around privacy, discrimination and government surveillance, according to the report, and said “it feels instinctively wrong.”

The vague concerns and quest for clarity come amid a series of announcements from the government that mostly avoid sharing any new details.  The result is that Starmer is spending his time in front of cameras repeating himself, such as when he said on Thursday the digital ID will not be required to receive medical treatment at a hospital.

Cut the faff

Starmer argued during a Thursday press conference that the new digital ID will reduce paperwork and time taken by administrative tasks, and improve the speed and security of public access to services. The subsequent announcement suggested that people in the UK “often need a passport to apply for a job, prove their right to rent or a driving licence to buy a pint.”

As usual, the DIATF, which furnished digital credentials for all of these use cases, was not mentioned.

“The digital ID is about putting power back in people’s hands, cutting the faff out of rummaging through drawers for documents and pointless bureaucracy we have accepted for too long while bringing Britain into the modern age,” Starmer said.

The digital ID will make it easier for people in the UK to open a bank account or get a job without having a passport or a driving license, apply for a mortgage, rent a home and protect against fraud.

The public consultation on the digital ID will launch by the end of this year, the government says.

Article Topics

BritCard  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  digital wallets  |  GOV.UK Wallet  |  government services  |  UK digital ID