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Kuenssberg exposes Starmer’s Digital ID con job

Labour are supposedly planning to bring in Digital ID to prevent people working here illegally. There’s a problem with this, which is that when people are working illegally, they’re generally in cahoots with the person who’s employing them. As such, it’s hard to see how Digital ID could have any impact on the shadow economies which operate in the UK.

We’d love to question Keir Starmer on this ourselves, but failing that, we’re happy that stopped clock Laura Kuenssberg has asked one of her intermittently good questions:


What’s the point in Digital ID?

Interviewing the PM before the Labour Party Conference, Kuenssberg said:

One of our viewers got in touch and wanted us to ask this question. Russ Brown wanted us to ask you if you really believe that those profiting from human trafficking will think, oh dear, I have to check your digital ID now. I can’t carry on paying you £1.50 an hour to work in my sweatshop.

This really is the question on everyone’s mind, isn’t it. Starmer responded:

I am absolutely convinced that amongst the reasons that people travel through France, which is a safe country, to come to the United Kingdom, amongst the reasons is because it’s easier to work in our illegal economy than it is in other countries.

This is a very interesting thing for Starmer to say, because France actually has a larger ‘shadow economy’ than the UK:

Graph showing France and other countries have larger shadow economies than the UK

This shows it’s easier to find illicit work in France than the UK because there’s more of it.

Oh, and as if this didn’t disprove Starmer’s argument enough, France already has Digital ID. Other countries on the list have it too, including Estonia, which has a shadow economy which is twice the size of our’s.

Really, who does Starmer think he’s kidding?

He’s certainly not fooling anyone online:

Big Brother

Speaking on the issues with Digital ID, Big Brother Watch have said:

  • At their worst, digital ID systems can enable population-wide surveillance, curb liberties, predict and shape people’s decisions, or be abused for the tracking and targeting of marginalised groups.
  • There is little evidence to prove that a digital ID system would deter illegal immigration or employment fraud. It would instead burden law-abiding citizens and businesses.
  • A digital ID system is highly likely to be used for more than just its original purpose. The government is already considering proposals that would require digital ID for employment and rent checks.
  • A digital ID could be used to track everyday interactions such as voting online, paying bills, and shopping.
  • The eVisa system’s errors and failures raise serious doubts about the government’s ability to manage a giant digital ID system.

The response to all the problems Digital ID could cause seems to be ‘no it won’t’. Given that Starmer now has the worst polling of any PM on record, he’s going to need a much better argument than that.

Featured image via BBC

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.