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Government response to Digital ID petition provokes fury

On 28 September, we reported that a ‘stop Digital ID’ petition was Parliament’s fourth largest petition of all time. Now, the government has issued a response. We regret to inform you it’s going down about as well as the initial announcement:


Let them eat Brit Card

In its response, the government said:

We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration, make accessing government services easier, and enable wider efficiencies. We will consult on details soon.

The response highlights that Estonia has a similar system:

For example, the new digital ID will build on GOV.UK One Login and the GOV.UK Wallet to drive the transformation of public services. Over time, this system will allow people to access government services – such as benefits or tax records – without needing to remember multiple logins or provide physical documents. It will significantly streamline interactions with the state, saving time and reducing frustrating paperwork, while also helping to create opportunities for more joined up government services. International examples show how beneficial this can be. For instance, Estonia’s system reportedly saves each citizen hours every month by streamlining unnecessary bureaucracy, and the move to becoming a digital society has saved taxpayer money.

It then details how Digital ID will supposedly stop so-called ‘shadow economies’ of illegal work:

By the end of this Parliament, employers will have to check the new digital ID when conducting a ‘right to work’ check. This will help combat criminal gangs who promise access to the UK labour market in order to profit from dangerous and illegal channel crossings. It will create a fairer system between UK citizens and legal residents, crack down on forged documents, and streamline the process for employers, driving up compliance. Further, it will create business information showing where employers are conducting checks, so driving more targeted action against non-compliant employers.

As we noted in a previous article, this argument is somewhat tenuous given the fact that Estonia’s shadow economy is more than twice the size of the UK’s:

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

You can read the government’s full response here.

And, in the meantime, you can read the backlash to the response in the following posts:

As we’ve previously highlighted, there is broad consensus among the left, right, and centre that this reheated policy from the Tony Blair years is a bad idea:

The slippery slope

In the latest response, the government said:

We will launch a public consultation in the coming weeks and work closely with employers, trade unions, civil society groups and other stakeholders, to co-design the scheme and ensure it is as secure and inclusive as possible. Following consultation, we will seek to bring forward legislation to underpin this system.

Be sure to make your voices heard when this consultation goes live. After all, we’ve seen what happens when governments are allowed to put liberty-impinging policies on the books:

We also know who’s behind this policy and what their intentions are:

When Big Brother tells you he wants to do 1984, believe him.

Featured image via Heute (License Details)

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.