Every working adult in Britain will require a Government-issued digital ID card under a ‘dystopian’ plan set to be announced by Sir Keir Starmer.
The idea of a mandatory identification system has long been advocated by Labour as a way to tackle illegal migration.
But the proposal is fiercely opposed by civil rights campaigners, who warn it will erode civil liberties and turn the UK into a ‘papers please’ society.
Meanwhile, polls show a majority of the public do not trust ministers to keep their personal data safe from cyber-criminals.
Detailed proposals for what has been dubbed a ‘Brit Card’ could be announced by the Prime Minister as early as tomorrow.
Under the scheme, anyone starting a new job or renting a property would be required to show their digital ID on an app so it can be automatically checked against a central database.
Currently, employees and renters have the option of showing a number of different forms of physical ID, but there are fears these are too easy to fake.
There is also little to stop unscrupulous employers claiming they have made a check when they have not.
However, critics have dismissed the plan as a reheated version of Tony Blair’s failed ID card scheme, which was axed amid concerns over privacy and soaring costs.
Sir Keir’s proposals will be subject to a consultation and are expected to require legislation. The UK is one of the few countries in Europe without an ID system.
Detailed plans for what has been dubbed a ‘Brit Card’ could be announced by the Prime Minister as early as tomorrow. Pictured: Mock-ups of what the cards could look like
Gracie Bradley, of campaign group Liberty, said a new plan was ‘likely to be even more intrusive, insecure and discriminatory’ than the Labour government’s failed 2006 initiative.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Vincent, of Big Brother Watch, accused ministers of a knee-jerk response to the small boats crisis.
‘While Downing Street is scrambling to be seen as doing something about illegal immigration, we are sleepwalking into a dystopian nightmare where the entire population will be forced through myriad digital checkpoints to go about our everyday lives,’ she said.
‘Mandatory digital IDs will not stop small boat crossings, but it will create a burden on the already law-abiding population to prove our right to be here. It will turn Britain into a “Papers, please” society.’
Tomorrow, Sir Keir is due to speak at the Global Progress Action Summit in London alongside Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.
Earlier this month, Sir Keir argued that digital IDs could ‘play an important part’ in making Britain less attractive to illegal migrants.
He said things had ‘moved on’ since the debate over ID cards during the last Labour government in the 2000s.
He had told the BBC: ‘We all carry a lot more digital ID now than we did 20 years ago, and I think that, psychologically, it plays a different part.’
France has repeatedly claimed that the lack of ID cards in the UK acts as a pull factor for Channel migrants, who are able to find work in the black economy.
A total of 1,157 people have arrived on small boats in the last week, according to Home Office statistics.
But Conservative justice spokesman Robert Jenrick said the plan would do nothing to stop the boats.
He said: ‘Most employers who are employing individuals illegally are doing so knowingly.
‘Asking them to check ID cards rather than the current checks that they are already obliged to do is not going to make a blind bit of difference to illegal migration.’
His concerns were echoed by Andrew Griffith, Tory MP for Arundel and South Downs, who called the proposal ‘a complete misdirection’ that would ‘impose more restrictions on the innocent’.
Mr Starmer is said to have been sceptical of ID cards on civil liberties grounds before coming over to the idea
Digital ID cards have been suggested as a way to deter Channel migrants
Tory former Cabinet minister David Davis was a high-profile opponent of Mr Blair’s scheme and renewed his criticisms today.
He said: ‘While digital IDs and ID cards sound like modern and efficient solutions to problems like illegal immigration, such claims are misleading at best.
‘The systems involved are profoundly dangerous to the privacy and fundamental freedoms of the British people.
‘No system is immune to failure, and we have seen time and again governments and tech giants fail to protect people’s personal data.
‘If world-leading companies cannot protect our data, I have little faith that Whitehall would be able to do better.
‘If politicians tell you that your data will be safe, why don’t you ask them if they’re willing to pay £10,000 compensation to each victim if there is a serious breach? The answer will be informative.’
The UK has only previously had mandatory ID cards during wartime. The last tranche were scrapped in 1952.
Sir John Major’s government ran a consultation on reintroducing them in 1995, but they were never brought in.
His successor, Sir Tony, then considered a voluntary ID card, but it was not fully rolled out amid objections from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
He has since repeated his call for their introduction after leaving office.
He was backed up by Labour campaign group Labour Together, which has been closely linked to Sir Keir and the Government.
The thinktank published a 30-page document in June in favour of the Brit Card.
In the report, it said: ‘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.
‘It would support better enforcement of migration rules, and protect vulnerable British citizens from being wrongly denied their rights.’
Big Brother Watch has again warned against their introduction.
A petition started by the group has reached more than 101,000 signatures.
In a letter to Sir Keir yesterday, the group said: ‘Mandatory digital ID is highly unlikely to achieve the Government’s objective of tackling unauthorised immigration.
‘The proposed schemes fundamentally misunderstand the ‘pull factors’ that drive migration to the UK and would do very little to tackle criminal people-smuggling gangs or employers and landlords who operate “off the books”.
‘Instead, it would push unauthorised migrants further into the shadows, into more precarious work and unsafe housing.’
Sir Ed Davey told the Liberal Democrat conference this week that his party would need to properly ‘scrutinise’ any details, but said it was not necessarily against the policy.
Responding to the ad-hoc poll during an event in Bournemouth, Sir Ed replied: ‘Times have changed, and that is why I am saying “let’s look at it”.’
He added: ‘There are models that may answer our objections as liberals.’
Mr Starmer is said to have been sceptical of ID cards on civil liberties grounds before coming over to the idea.
Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, was believed to be sceptical about ID cards when she was home secretary.
But her replacement, Shabana Mahmood, is strongly in favour.
This month she said she was ‘very clear’ that ministers had to deal with factors that made the UK attractive to illegal migrants.
She added: ‘I want to make sure that we can clamp down on that. I think that a system of digital ID can also help with illegal working enforcement of other laws as well. I do think that that has a role to play for dealing with our migration.
‘My long-term personal political view has always been in favour of ID cards.’
Polling has found that almost two-thirds of Britons do not trust the Government to keep their digital identity data secure.
Polling for Big Brother Watch found 63 per cent of Britons do not trust the Government to keep their personal information secure.
Matthew Feeney, advocacy manager of BBW, said the YouGov survey of 2,153 people shows that people fear their data would be stolen in a cyber-attack.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘On top of a digital ID scheme being a civil liberties disaster, it would also represent a significant cybersecurity risk. The Government should abandon plans for a digital ID scheme immediately.’
The warning follows a series of cyber-attacks against British national infrastructure and a colossal data leak when the details of more than 18,000 people who had applied for asylum under the Afghan resettlement scheme ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
Alexander Iosad, director of government innovation at the Tony Blair Institute, today hailed the prospect of digital ID cards.
He said: ‘Make no mistake, if the government announces a universal digital ID to help improve our public services, it would be one of the most important steps taken by this or any government to make British citizens’ everyday lives easier and build trust.
‘How we experience government could be about to transform, for the better.
‘Not only can Digital ID help us to tackle illegal migration, but done correctly and responsibly, it can open the door to a whole new model of services that come to you when you need them.’
