Common ground on UK digital ID allows stakeholders to reframe discussion

The UK government’s plans for a national digital identity scheme have proved divisive, but a civil discussion between representatives of the Tony Blair Institute and the Association of Digital Verification Professionals on the Biometric Update Podcast also uncovered significant common ground. That common ground provides a basis from which to pinpoint and sincerely address the differences in informed opinion about what kind of system can actually benefit the UK.

The Labour government under Prime Minister Kier Starmer has proposed a system that is mandatory for employment, with the government developing and issuing not only digital credentials, but a digital wallet from which they are shared.

TBI Director of Government Innovation Alexander Iosad and ADVP Chair David Crack agree broadly that digital identity can benefit the UK, that communication around the current plan has not been clear enough to bring clarity to the public and that the government’s role includes issuing credentials, including digital IDs.

They also agreed that digital ID should be useful for identity verification, verification of other characteristics (like age or eligibility to work) and for access to public services.

“Where we do have a genuine problem is with the model of interaction between the government and the citizen and the ability to shift to a model of public service delivery that is personalized because we have information that allows us to personalize delivery,” Iosad explained.

Where they disagree is a set of details, such as how Right to Work checks should be carried out. The Tony Blair Institute has long advocated for state-issued credentials, another point of agreement with Crack, but the two side differ on whether the government should issue a digital ID wallet.

“This goes right to the nub of looking at the outcomes rather than the ID,” Crack says. “If you say that a government credential can only be in a government wallet and only the government wallet can access public services, it creates a monopoly and that’s not good.”

The PM’s Chief Secretary Darren Jones told the ADVP and other industry groups in a meeting at the beginning of December that the government has fixed goals for the outcomes from digital ID, not how the system will work.

A government-issued digital wallet does not have to preclude public choice, Iosad says, noting that the UK has public and private schools and hospitals.

But Crack argues that identity is different, with implications for the Common Law basis of the relationship between individuals and the state. The UK’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework embeds the values, including privacy protection, that are common to national culture, he says.

Iosad agreed on the importance of culture, but suggests that with the government issuing credentials anyway, the version of digital ID on offer is closer to that in other Common Law countries than the strawman version that MPs and members of the public see clashing with UK values.

Practical considerations favor reliance on the existing DVS providers from the private sector, too, Crack says. This is because they are already performing functions the government must undertake major change and effort to fulfil, but also because the trust framework has the public’s trust, and the government does not.

The debate also touched on how best to use public resources and the political implications of failure for the Labour government.

Both sides in the pro-digital ID camp are hopeful for the upcoming public consultation, and finding a path forward that delivers the results people in the UK want. If that is to happen, the debate will have to bypass political posturing to focus on the implementation details that matter.

“It is a disagreement about the best way to deliver the best outcomes,” Iosad summarized.

Article Topics

ADVP  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  digital verification service (DVS)  |  digital wallets  |  Tony Blair Institute  |  UK  |  UK digital ID