Parsing UK PM frontrunners’ positions on digital ID and age assurance

Will the presumptive new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham rip up Labour’s digital ID policy?  What about the Online Safety Act? The best evidence on offer so far suggests a change in direction is more likely for the former than the latter.

One of former PM Kier Starmer’s signature policies, the national digital ID and the digital wallet to store it in, could be revisited by Burnham as he seeks to shore up flagging support for the Labour government.

The Register sums up Starmer’s tenure as marked by “grand promises, too little thought, and contradictory priorities.”

The example in the article is the government’s promise to find £45 billion (roughly US$ billion) in savings from public service delivery through AI and automation. It could just as easily apply to Starmer’s digital ID ambitions and promises to build up the UK’s tech sector. The proposed government digital wallet still threatens to limit, if not reduce, the burgeoning private sector digital identity and IDV market.

Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) Executive Director Iain Corby tells Biometric Update in an emailed statement that “Any new Prime Minister will have seen 3 million people signed a petition against Sir Keir’s plan for government-issued digital ID and would be well advised to quietly drop it in favour of the existing approach – using private sector ID providers which can deliver the same benefits with far less public opposition and taxpayer funding.”

MP Josh Simons departed the lead post on Starmer’s digital ID initiative earlier this year, and then gave up his seat to give Burnham an opportunity to enter Parliament and challenge Starmer for the PM job. Simons’ probe into journalists critical of Labour Together certainly qualifies for the “too little thought” category.

Burnham has already been burned once by a failed national ID policy, as Minister in charge of former PM Tony Blair’s scheme. He told a party conference last year that the national digital ID project comes with “a risk of an opportunity cost situation,” according to The Register.

ID Card Centre notes searches of “digital ID” in the UK more than doubled as it became clear Starmer would resign, and the public wondered about the fate of the policy.

Burnham’s history indicates that he understands the link between identity assurance and fraud reduction, however.

As Mayor of Manchester Burnham presided over an extensive trial of Fingo finger vein biometrics for identity verification in daily use like public transit access.

“Prime Ministers may change, but the challenges surrounding identity verification remain,” said ID Card Centre Managing Director Ben O’Brien in an emailed statement. “Online fraud, age assurance and secure access to digital services are long-term issues that extend beyond individual governments.”

Online Safety Act safer?

Less controversial, it appears, is the government’s advance of inline age restrictions to social media.

The Fingo trial was followed by another at the national level, which included Fingo along with biometric technology from Fujitsu, ITL, 1account and Yoti for in-person age checks. That trial represented an early evidence-gathering step that was notably absent from the digital ID planning process.

Burnham said in January that he found himself “agreeing with a lot of what Kemi Badenoch is saying about children and social media. It seems to me parents would welcome a cross-party consensus around much bolder action,” as quoted by The Guardian.

Article Topics

AVPA  |  digital wallets  |  national ID  |  Online Safety Act  |  UK age verification  |  UK digital ID