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The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Digital ID cards would be good for Britain – and a secret weapon for Labour against Reform
'Papers please!' Those words strike terror in a thousand war movies. Stasi or Gestapo officers are a breed apart from the unarmed plod who demands no ID cards from free British people. So when the government contemplates a universal ID, it sends instinctive twitches down some spines. Though not many. Times and public attitudes have changed. And so have the political imperatives, for it seems that, for a Labour government struggling to seize the narrative after a difficult year in power, digital ID cards – and the sense of national belonging they could strengthen – may just be the weapon needed to fight off the ever-rising threat of Nigel Farage's Reform. Look to Labour Together, the thinktank closest to government, which has just published a paper calling for a digital ID system – a 'verifiable digital credential downloaded onto a user's smartphone, which could be instantly checked by employers or landlords using a free verifier app'. One of its main virtues is simplification. There are currently 191 ways to set up accounts and access services on with 44 sign-in methods. A universal ID is popular: More in Common finds 53% in favour, with 25% strongly in favour and only 19% against, backed by a majority of supporters of Labour, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK, and across all ages. The co-author of the foreword to the report, the Rother Valley MP Jake Richards, talks in terms of 'the citizen taking back control of their own data and public services'. One portal, no more forgotten passwords, simple, safe, everything in one place for everyone. What's not to like? Some will protest at the apparent loss of a romantic freedom, the right to vanish and start life anew, the call of the open road. But that's a fairytale, a fantasy of a bygone era. Everyone knows everything already. As Richards puts it to me: 'Last night I drank a Guinness. This morning I'm getting ads for Guinness.' The algorithms catch us already everywhere. Buy a lampshade and lampshades chase you all over the internet (which suggests algorithmic cluelessness: I've already bought that lampshade). You may restrict what you let out, but AI will find you, assessing your age and address from a host of databases. Better to control everything from one government-run base. It seems clear to me that the report is fundamentally about immigration – Labour wants to make it easier to identify people with no right to live here or claim public services. The policies behind the 'stop the boats' and 'smash the gangs' slogans can never hope to guard every beach from every rubber dinghy, whatever politicians pretend, any more than they can 'end crime'. But ID would be a second line of defence against undocumented migrants who would find getting a job, renting a flat or using public services near impossible without one. Curbing benefit fraud is also cited as another argument in favour by poll respondents in the report; with ID cards for all claimants, those ever-suspicious of benefit cheats, despite the very low fraud levels at just 2.2%, might be reassured. ID cards, designed to guard borders, could calm some alarm at migration among those who wildly overestimate the numbers arriving undocumented. The report forcefully labels it the 'BritCard', the first of its kind since the second world war. With a groundswell of support among the new cohort of Labour MPs, Richards says it's not just red wallers in favour, but everyone who's alarmed by Reform's frightening advance. Former home secretaries back it – Alan Johnson, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, Jack Straw, Amber Rudd, plus William Hague. Tony Blair has always advocated it, with a tortured history of trying to introduce a plastic 'entitlement' card. First tried in 2003, the idea was backed by the Met police commissioner, who called it an 'absolutely essential' tool in the war against terrorism. By 2010 it was briefly available to some, but abolished by the incoming coalition government. The cost was a killer: £85 for a combined card and passport. This time a universal digital ID would be free, say its promoters. The authors would make it mandatory – Jake Richards wouldn't. But that may make little difference once it became near-impossible to access anything without it. Real risks need to be resolved first, as a computer rejecting you unjustly would cut off access to everything. The Home Office would have to improve radically, given its track record. We cannot forget that some Windrush victims are still waiting for compensation while others dare not approach the untrusted Home Office, source of their trauma. Any system would need cast-iron guarantees that being denied services on the basis of not having a valid BritCard would be dealt with instantly by senior enough officials to make robust decisions with rapid appeal to courts not blocked by backlogs. But the political advantages are crystal clear. The almost 37,000 migrants arriving by boat last year signify a state's loss of control. It has been reported that some would-be arrivals in Calais choose the UK because it doesn't have ID cards, unlike most of the EU. Adjudicating who is entitled to be here is the state's first duty, controlling who shares in a democracy and the public services that voters pay into. ID cards are a social democratic cause, because they help define security not only as border controls for who comes in, but as the right for everyone here to share in our mutual social security. In truth this is a political rebranding of what's happening already. E-visas are rolling out to all foreign residents, with the existing One Login and Wallet doing the same digital identity work. Make it one ID system and the government can claim the political credit. Its promoters relish a public fight with civil liberties and privacy groups to prove Labour's seriousness about national identity. Watch the dash to leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR), promoted by the now near-identical Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage. Labour will rightly have none of it. No 10 is not yet committed on digital ID cards – but lest anyone think Labour lacks a pride and purpose when it comes to British identity, this is the time to bring in ID cards to endow everyone with proof of their national rights. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Digital ID cards could be Starmer's poll tax
In March 1990, shops and cars in Covent Garden were set ablaze in the worst rioting the capital had seen for a century. Few things had angered the public like the new community charge. But something else happened too, which has been largely forgotten. Councils saw their revenue crash, as millions of names disappeared from the voter rolls. Now Sir Keir Starmer's favourite think tank has proposed what could turn out to be his very own poll tax. 'BritCard' is the name for a new digital ID app advanced by Labour Together, the think tank once run by Morgan McSweeney, who is now Starmer's chief of staff. The demand 'papers, please!' is not popular with voters, so to make it more palatable BritCard comes wrapped in the language of civic nationalism, serving as a cure for illegal immigration. The app and proposed wallet will be rebranded BritCard, to give us a nice warm, fuzzy feeling. We will love it so much that they believe it will morph into a full-blown digital ID system, acting as 'a familiar feature of daily life for everyone in the country'. But there are two serious problems here, and they are set on a collision course. First, BritCard will be mandatory, so we will be forced to use it or go off-grid entirely. Second – and this should alarm us all – Labour Together proposes that BritCard will use the Government's One Login digital identity service, which is mentioned 13 times in the proposal. This has become an expensive and sprawling Government IT project that has engaged hundreds of contractors, and cost taxpayers over £300m. What we know about it is very troubling – concerns have been raised about the security of the project at the deepest levels of the state. When we create a One Login account, it hoovers up our personal identification documents. This ID becomes the key that unlocks other government services, so an insecure system has serious consequences. It not only puts individuals at risk of identity theft and impersonation, but also makes defrauding the Government much easier. A fake ID can get you a long way. Phishing gangs accessed the records of 100,000 taxpayers, HMRC officials admitted last week, and used the IDs to steal an estimated £47m. An ID system like One Login is where criminal gangs would go first, and BritCard will forcibly enrol you into it. The Telegraph has reported the concerns of senior risk and cybersecurity staff working on One Login in some detail. The system was being accessed and modified by staff and contractors without the required level of security. Parts of the system were being developed in Romania, a fact that had eluded top management at the Government Digital Service (GDS). 'It's Horizon all over again,' one global security expert told this newspaper in April, referring to the notorious Post Office computer system. Of the 39 requirements in the National Cybersecurity Centre's cybersecurity checklist list CAF, One Login still only meets 21. But instead of taking the warnings seriously, One Login's senior management at GDS turned on the messengers who had brought them the bad news, dispersing the independent risk and cybersecurity team that first raised the issues. One Login's management subsequently began to mark their own homework. And earlier this year, a 'red team' exercise revealed how easily the system could be captured by hostile parties. The penetration test confirmed that intruders could breeze right in and take control of One Login without anyone noticing. Now recall GDS's own words – made in a business case that it refuses to release to the public – that an insecure One Login would empower 'hostile actors seeking to disrupt national infrastructure', with 'severe consequences for a large number of people'. As for Labour Together's proposition that a digital ID will help magically fix mass immigration, technology is not really the problem. Asylum seekers are already issued with a compulsory ID, but that doesn't stop them from melting into the underground economy, where the ID is never checked. And undocumented arrivals can gain a valid identity from the Home Office because it is promiscuously issuing credentials to undocumented migrants, taking at face value that they are who they say they are. Going digital won't fix either. Labour Together also thinks the public will rally around a digital ID app. 'Our polling revealed extremely strong public support for using a digital identity system for a range of use cases,' argues Labour Together. But only some. Polling by YouGov finds that around a fifth of UK consumers would not be comfortable with having an internationally recognised digital ID card or wallet like BritCard. Fewer than half, or 44pc, want a government ID that stores their biometric data, according to a survey for British payments processor History doesn't repeat itself exactly, but it can rhyme. In 1990, millions went off-grid to avoid a hated new tax. Of course, it is very difficult to disappear today. But millions of us will face a profound moral choice similar to one that voters faced in 1990, as both the poll tax and digital ID were made compulsory. Must I expose myself to criminals and identity theft, or do I refuse to go along with this government scheme? Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Digital ID cards could be Starmer's poll tax
In March 1990, shops and cars in Covent Garden were set ablaze in the worst rioting the capital had seen for a century. Few things had angered the public like the new community charge. But something else happened too, which has been largely forgotten. Councils saw their revenue crash, as millions of names disappeared from the voter rolls. Now Sir Keir Starmer's favourite think tank has proposed what could turn out to be his very own poll tax. 'BritCard' is the name for a new digital ID app advanced by Labour Together, the think tank once run by Morgan McSweeney, who is now Starmer's chief of staff. The demand 'papers, please!' is not popular with voters, so to make it more palatable BritCard comes wrapped in the language of civic nationalism, serving as a cure for illegal immigration. The app and proposed wallet will be rebranded BritCard, to give us a nice warm, fuzzy feeling. We will love it so much that they believe it will morph into a full-blown digital ID system, acting as 'a familiar feature of daily life for everyone in the country'. But there are two serious problems here, and they are set on a collision course. First, BritCard will be mandatory, so we will be forced to use it or go off-grid entirely. Second – and this should alarm us all – Labour Together proposes that BritCard will use the Government's One Login digital identity service, which is mentioned 13 times in the proposal. This has become an expensive and sprawling Government IT project that has engaged hundreds of contractors, and cost taxpayers over £300m. What we know about it is very troubling – concerns have been raised about the security of the project at the deepest levels of the state. When we create a One Login account, it hoovers up our personal identification documents. This ID becomes the key that unlocks other government services, so an insecure system has serious consequences. It not only puts individuals at risk of identity theft and impersonation, but also makes defrauding the Government much easier. A fake ID can get you a long way. Phishing gangs accessed the records of 100,000 taxpayers, HMRC officials admitted last week, and used the IDs to steal an estimated £47m. An ID system like One Login is where criminal gangs would go first, and BritCard will forcibly enrol you into it. The Telegraph has reported the concerns of senior risk and cybersecurity staff working on One Login in some detail. The system was being accessed and modified by staff and contractors without the required level of security. Parts of the system were being developed in Romania, a fact that had eluded top management at the Government Digital Service (GDS). 'It's Horizon all over again,' one global security expert told this newspaper in April, referring to the notorious Post Office computer system. Of the 39 requirements in the National Cybersecurity Centre's cybersecurity checklist list CAF, One Login still only meets 21. But instead of taking the warnings seriously, One Login's senior management at GDS turned on the messengers who had brought them the bad news, dispersing the independent risk and cybersecurity team that first raised the issues. One Login's management subsequently began to mark their own homework. And earlier this year, a 'red team' exercise revealed how easily the system could be captured by hostile parties. The penetration test confirmed that intruders could breeze right in and take control of One Login without anyone noticing. Now recall GDS's own words – made in a business case that it refuses to release to the public – that an insecure One Login would empower 'hostile actors seeking to disrupt national infrastructure', with 'severe consequences for a large number of people'. As for Labour Together's proposition that a digital ID will help magically fix mass immigration, technology is not really the problem. Asylum seekers are already issued with a compulsory ID, but that doesn't stop them from melting into the underground economy, where the ID is never checked. And undocumented arrivals can gain a valid identity from the Home Office because it is promiscuously issuing credentials to undocumented migrants, taking at face value that they are who they say they are. Going digital won't fix either. Labour Together also thinks the public will rally around a digital ID app. 'Our polling revealed extremely strong public support for using a digital identity system for a range of use cases,' argues Labour Together. But only some. Polling by YouGov finds that around a fifth of UK consumers would not be comfortable with having an internationally recognised digital ID card or wallet like BritCard. Fewer than half, or 44pc, want a government ID that stores their biometric data, according to a survey for British payments processor History doesn't repeat itself exactly, but it can rhyme. In 1990, millions went off-grid to avoid a hated new tax. Of course, it is very difficult to disappear today. But millions of us will face a profound moral choice similar to one that voters faced in 1990, as both the poll tax and digital ID were made compulsory.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Mandatory ID cards on your phone being weighed up - what it would mean for you
Proposals for new 'BritCards' - which would prove whether someone has the right to live and work in the UK - are being looked at by ministers amid claims it will help tackle illegal migration Ministers are looking at plans to bring in mandatory digital ID cards for every adult in the UK. Backers say the new "BritCard" - which would be linked to Government records - would help tackle illegal migration and rogue landlords. A new report says the ID, which would be stored on smartphones, would make right-to-rent and right-to-work checks quicker and easier. Former PM Tony Blair has long called for ID cards, but the Government previously said it was not planning to bring them in. However a new report by think-tank Labour Together has been passed to No10's policy unit. Backbench MPs Jake Richards and Adam Jogee say the ID cards would be a "full, country-wide effort" allowing people to prove their right to be here. The think-tank said in a report that a "mandatory, universal, national identity credential" can help the UK secure its borders. BritCards would be issued free of charge to everyone with the right to live and work in the UK, Labour Together says. It estimates it would cost between £140million and £400million to set up. Mr Richards and Mr Jogee wrote that digital ID "will help improve the enforcement of our rules dramatically". They continued: "But it is also progressive because it gives our residents and citizens thecast iron guarantees they have not previously had. This is your have a right to be here. This will make your life easier." Supporters argue the move would help prevent a repeat of the Windrush scandal, which saw hundreds of people wrongly deported or threatened with deportation. Morgan Wild, Chief Policy Adviser at Labour Together said: 'The state makes everyone, whether they are a British citizen or not, prove their right to work or rent. "But we don't give everyone with the right to be here the ability to prove it. That leads to discrimination, unjust deportation and, as happened in the worst Windrush cases, dying in a country that is not your own. Through a national effort to provide everyone with proof of their right to be here, BritCard can stop that from ever happening again.' The think-tank's paper argues that BritCards should initially be rolled out for right-to-rent and right-to-work checks. It says this would support the Government's clampdown on irregular migration and those living in the UK illegally. Polling for Labour Together suggests around 80% of Brits support the idea for the specific purpose of tackling illegal migration. The paper says it will help tackle forgery and discrimination by landlords. Kirsty Innes, Director of Technology at Labour Together said: 'A progressive society can only work if we have meaningful borders. BritCard would make it far harder to flout the illegal work and illegal rent rules, and far easier to identify and punish exploitative illegal employers and landlords.' Introducing ID cards was a pet project of Tony Blair's. He tried to bring in compulsory identification documents when he was PM. Last year he said: "We need a plan to control immigration. If we don't have rules, we get prejudices. "In office, I believed the best solution was a system of identity so that we know precisely who has a right to be here. "With, again, technology, we should move as the world is moving to digital ID. If not, new border controls will have to be highly effective." But at the time Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "It's not in our manifesto. That's not our approach."
Metro
4 days ago
- Business
- Metro
Universal digital 'BritCards' on an app could soon be used to prove who you are
You could soon need to show a card on an app to get a job or rent a house under a proposed universal digital identity scheme. A 'BritCard' would be a free, mandatory electronic credential stored on a person's smartphone on the planned Wallet app. Employers, immigration, banks and landlords could use a verifier app to conduct checks. The card was proposed today in a policy paper by Labour Together handed to Number 10, with a poll conducted by the influential think-tank finding 80% of Britons would support a digital identity card. The government are examining the proposals, which Labour Together said would also help reduce visa overstayers and benefit fraud. Mockups show that the document would show whether the holder has the right to work or rent. Their driving licence would also be on the app, with hopes that the app could be used to order a passport, access NHS services or display your National Insurance number. Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sign up here. People would be required to show their online ID when renting a property or applying for a new job, as a system would check their official records. Landlords rarely face fines for not checking tenants' migration status, Labour Together said, while employers face complex right-to-work rules that vary drastically between groups of people. The paper also said it could help curb visa overstayers, with 63,000 non-EU nationals recorded as not leaving the country before their documents expired in the four years to March 2020, or fewer than 4%. Britain is the only country in Europe without an ID card, with those in the EU able to travel around the bloc with one instead of a passport. Sir Tony Blair attempted to introduce compulsory ID cards in 2006 after the September 11 and 7/7 bombings, only for it to be scrapped. Labour Together estimated it would cost £400million to build the e-ID system and £10million to run the free-to-use phone app. In the foreword, 'red wall' MPs Jake Richards and Adam Jogee said the BritCard 'should form an important part of Labour's enforcement strategy that does not compromise our principles and values'. They added: 'The Windrush scandal saw thousands of people wrongly targeted by immigration enforcement, including many legitimate British citizens who were unjustly detained or deported. More Trending 'We believe that a progressive government does not have to choose between dealing with these injustices. It must tackle them all head-on.' Morgan Wild, Labour Together's chief policy adviser, said: 'The state makes everyone, whether they are a British citizen or not, prove their right to work or rent. 'But we don't give everyone with the right to be here the ability to prove it. 'That leads to discrimination, unjust deportation and, as happened in the worst Windrush cases, dying in a country that is not your own. Through a national effort to provide everyone with proof of their right to be here, BritCard can stop that from ever happening again.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Full list of 12 countries on Donald Trump's travel ban MORE: Free school meals to be extended to 500,000 chilldren across the country MORE: Halving violence against women and girls will require more cash, watchdogs say
