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What do you think about proposed ID cards?

286 replies

RosieLeaLovesTea · 25/09/2025 20:07

I am not sure what I think about proposed ID cards?
does the UK public want it?
how much it is going to cost to bring them in?
what are the positives and negatives?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
justasking111 · 26/09/2025 14:36

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 14:28

Germany has had digital ID cards since 2010. Palantir operates there too. Democracy hasn’t collapsed there yet.

It’s fair to be wary of technology and ID systems but I think the key here is to worry about safeguards and oversight, not the ID cards themselves.

They're drowning in immigration issues, which is labours selling point.

EasternStandard · 26/09/2025 14:41

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 14:28

Germany has had digital ID cards since 2010. Palantir operates there too. Democracy hasn’t collapsed there yet.

It’s fair to be wary of technology and ID systems but I think the key here is to worry about safeguards and oversight, not the ID cards themselves.

As pp said Germany have highest unauthorised migrant numbers in EU. It’s not doing anything there, and scheme is what Labour are relying on.

BruisedNeckMeat · 26/09/2025 14:47

I’m horrified by the idea. It’s interesting how the solution to every crisis is magically digital ID. Blair has been after this for decades.

Anyone who thinks this won’t be used and abused by government is either fantastically naive or wilfully ignorant.

We aren’t just sleepwalking into dystopia but welcoming it in while we bang our pots and pans in celebration.

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 15:19

EasternStandard · 26/09/2025 14:41

As pp said Germany have highest unauthorised migrant numbers in EU. It’s not doing anything there, and scheme is what Labour are relying on.

Yes. You’re probably right about the evidence actually shows that ID won’t help much with unauthorized immigration.

However, they will make it harder for anyone here illegally to access government services, healthcare, housing and ‘proper’ jobs.

Judging on the experience in other countries and our legal frameworks, culture and economy, I think it highly unlikely that the introduction of ID cards is going to create some kind of dystopia and a demolition of democracy. It would take much more for that to happen.

JohnTheRevelator · 26/09/2025 15:21

CalmShaker · 25/09/2025 20:14

I don't see the difference over a driving license or passport really, can anyone point out what the main issue over the mentioned is please?

Not everyone has a driving licence or a passport.

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 15:22

justasking111 · 26/09/2025 14:36

They're drowning in immigration issues, which is labours selling point.

Yes, as just stated in my previous post, I don’t think the government is right about ID cards reducing immigration but I do think they have many benefits. And of course some potential issues around security etc

MokaEfti · 26/09/2025 15:40

How would they actually make everyone have the digital id on their phone ? I don’t want it so I wouldn’t put it on there. Or would they deactivate all phones that don’t have the owner’s digital id on them??? 😱

Jinglejanglebojangle · 26/09/2025 15:42

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 14:28

Germany has had digital ID cards since 2010. Palantir operates there too. Democracy hasn’t collapsed there yet.

It’s fair to be wary of technology and ID systems but I think the key here is to worry about safeguards and oversight, not the ID cards themselves.

I didn't have a digital ID card when I lived in Germany for 5 years from 2015 - is it just for non citizens, or only in certain areas?

Jinglejanglebojangle · 26/09/2025 15:44

Also I don't have a smartphone so will I be forced to buy one in order to get a new job?

scalt · 26/09/2025 15:51

I highly doubt there is any realistic chance of the UK moving towards Chinese style surveillance.
Lots of people (including politicians) thought we could never have a lockdown.

Until we did.

@TonTonMacoute This has Tony Blair’s filthy greedy fingerprints all over it. I distinctly remember him saying early on "I want every household to have the internet", back when the internet at home was still a novelty. He wasn't being altruistic. He had foresight about how useful the internet would be to control the public. His only regret is probably that he wasn't prime minister in 2020. He would have loved it.

ChubbyPuffling · 26/09/2025 16:08

I can see our future is changing rapidly, and this, though unwanted by many will be pushed through because it is needed for next steps.

Jobs have to go to those entitled to work here, because there are fewer and fewer jobs available. The pushing of retail to the internet means fewer high st jobs, food delivery services mean fewer jobs available in hospitality, teams meetings mean fewer transport and hotel needs... AI can do so much now, imagine the future... so many jobs will disappear.
When there are way too few jobs for the population, "universal" income (or civil disobedience) will rear its head. Cash will disappear. People will have their allocation based on some sort of status... do you see how quickly things descend into dystopia.
(I am against digital ID, but do see it will become a necessary evil and they are trying to get this stage in place - painting it with "show YOU are entitled to work here")

hindsightisuseful · 26/09/2025 16:36

scalt · 26/09/2025 12:22

Public sector IT projects never go wrong, do they?
Post Office scandal.
MPs leaving memory sticks containing an entire public database on a train.
Billions spent on "test and trace" to make ONE person rich, and the resulting Pingdemic.

And, as @justasking111 said:
Blocked Bank accounts of citizens who wouldn't have the COVID jabs
Blocked Bank accounts of farmers who protested against the government
Blocked people from going into their own forests this summer threatening huge fines.
And many, many more ideas are possible. While he might be speaking against ID cards now, two-faced Farage is already rubbing his hands in glee thinking about how they would be extremely useful to him, if he got into power.

ID cards? Nope. Nope. Nope. The year 2020 should have been ringing VERY LOUD ALARM BELLS INDEED, even louder than those "emergency alerts", which again, many people are holding up as a beacon of "but the rest of the world does it, why shouldn't we?" I don't want the government having a button of "instantly frighten the pants off the public"; their fingers would slip on it.

I am hanging on to cash, petrol, dumb electricity meter, gas central heating, and Alexa-free household for as long as I possibly can. Why don't I like Alexa, I hear you ask? Far too similar to Orwellian telescreens. I foresee Alexa-like devices being repurposed as a means to broadcast government propaganda into your home whether you want it or not; being the only way to access the internet, which by then will be essential for everything, including buying food. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but in 2020, we "conspiracy theorists" were proved right about many things.

Yes I don’t like her either

HumbleKatey · 26/09/2025 19:13

I genuinely think we should all have embedded microchips. A 5-minute trip to the doctor, keep the plaster on for 2-days. Sorted,

HumbleKatey · 26/09/2025 19:20

Phobiaphobic · 26/09/2025 10:14

As someone without the genes for smart phones - never know where mine is, and if I find it, it's never charged, and even if it is, I can't do anything on it - I'm worried about the faff if we're forced to have ID on us at all times. What if you lose your phone, or it's dead?

If your phone’s dead, you will be regarded as dead. It’s your own fault,

HumbleKatey · 26/09/2025 19:21

CandidOP · 26/09/2025 13:34

I am in two minds. Years ago I was against them for many of the privacy and data security reasons given by others. However any future authoritarian government could just introduce and make id cards mandatory anyway if they got into power. In reality the phone, internet and social media explosion means that in practice everyone and anyone already has our data and can track us. Passports are pretty secure in terms of forgery so as long as employers had the right equipment or databases to refer to I don't see that id cards should be any different. It may well therefore make it harder for anyone not entitled to work to do so which might quieten those currently being stirred up into a frenzy about migration. Not sure yet waiting to see more detail.

Anyone in two minds will be allowed to have two ID Cards,

HumbleKatey · 26/09/2025 19:23

Starwarsepisode3 · 26/09/2025 11:07

No harm but that’s how it started in Nazi Germany.

And the Nazi used state records to decide who to send to concentration camps.

And yes, we aren’t there yet, and that’s not how it is now, but it wasn’t when the French and Dutch started keeping their records either.

The potential for abuse is too high for me. It would end up with every single bit of information about you all linked under the auspices of a good idea.

It is a no from me. I’m old enough that by the time it comes in, if I go to jail, I go to jail.

I’m happy to conscientiously object to this.

Comparing UK ID Cards in 2025 to Nazi Germany in 1940 is a bit of a stretch,

CallMeEvelyn · 26/09/2025 19:23

Most EU countries have had them for ages and they really don't change anything, maybe apart from being helpful with travel and bureaucracy. It's a non-event, and if otherwise then it's positive.

EasternStandard · 26/09/2025 19:42

HumbleKatey · 26/09/2025 19:23

Comparing UK ID Cards in 2025 to Nazi Germany in 1940 is a bit of a stretch,

Not cards, a digital scheme. And in 2025 easier to link up access and use AI

justasking111 · 26/09/2025 19:48

CallMeEvelyn · 26/09/2025 19:23

Most EU countries have had them for ages and they really don't change anything, maybe apart from being helpful with travel and bureaucracy. It's a non-event, and if otherwise then it's positive.

I think Starmer has grander plans with this app. Idea

Larsaleaping · 26/09/2025 19:49

I can't think of any information the government doesn't already have about me online anyway, once you give them everything they need for passport, driving license, tax free childcare applications, tax returns etc
So I don't get what the big deal is.

Buildingthefuture · 26/09/2025 20:00

My life is totally legal and boring. Nothing to see here so on one level, I think whatever.
On the other? What is the cost? The country is on the bones of its arse and I can personally think of many, many places the billions this will cost could be put to better use.
And as for it preventing illegal employment? Christ alive, don’t make me laugh! The places that employ people illegally, cash in hand, will continue to do just that.

Pedallleur · 26/09/2025 21:29

HumbleKatey · 26/09/2025 19:13

I genuinely think we should all have embedded microchips. A 5-minute trip to the doctor, keep the plaster on for 2-days. Sorted,

Well you can be first. Suddenly there are 5 minutes x 60 million people = 300 million minutes or 5,000,000 hours of medical time spent microchipping the population. Are we going voluntarily or being marched in?

StarlightLady · 26/09/2025 22:26

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 13:26

Digital is much less risky when it comes to fraud. A physical card is something you just have and a digital card can have multifacetor authentication built in and also can easily be checked against a central database. Also, if I show my passport (say) just to proove that my name is Dizzy, you may also see my date of birth, whereas on a digital ID it might be possible just to share the info that I need to share with you.

Also physical cards and passports can be lost. A digital ID card will always be retrievable, even if you lose your phone.

No hacking risk then? BA, M&S, Jaguar, M&S, Harrods to name a few.

dizzydizzydizzy · 26/09/2025 22:42

StarlightLady · 26/09/2025 22:26

No hacking risk then? BA, M&S, Jaguar, M&S, Harrods to name a few.

i mentioned that on my other posts.

TeriTheTurtle · 26/09/2025 22:48

Totally in favour of it.

  1. we already have a digital and analogue footprint, it’s just that it’s linked to an email address which could be made up anywhere. I’d far prefer a secure system where everyone doing important things was a real person.
  2. we’ve also already got NI numbers, then passports, drivers licenses etc. why on earth wouldn’t you streamline these if you’ve got nothing to hide.
  3. personally I think they should be mandatory for any job, and linked to your NI numbers. Maybe more people would pay the taxes they actually owe and the scheme would pay for itself.