Digital id’s scrapped

[babylamb4]

Oh thank god for that. Best news of 2026 so far.

Yeh partial good news. It all needs to be non mandatory. Which may as well mean it’s dead in the water.

Wait til the Deform grifters get to be mp’s…then you’ll see what real incompetence is!

Why are you being offensive and using the word deform. Do you have a problem with people who have disabilities?;

Indeed. I don't understand the strength of opposition to these at all. If you ever intend to draw a state pension the government will already have your name, date of birth, address and bank account details. If you ever drive a car or have a passport they will have your photo. If you ever claim child benefit or send a child to school they will know who your children are, when they were born etc. The NHS already has details on all your medical treatments. You already carry a mobile phone in your pocket that can track you wherever you go.

The government ALREADY has access to all this information.

All a digital ID does is mean you can prove your identity more conveniently when needed.

Fine if they have a non mandatory one you can get one.

But given the government ALREADY has every imaginable piece of personal information about you, what's the problem with it being mandatory?

I don’t see it that way. But you can get the ID and others won’t. Why would that bother you?

Personally it doesn't bother me whether we have no digital ID, optional digital ID or mandatory digital ID. I just don't care.

And so with that in mind I'm just trying to understand WHY people are SO angry about something that to me seems a complete nothing. What's the problem with mandatory digital ID? What can you do now that you couldn't do with digital ID? What's the downside?

The government has all the information, but the UK has never (despite a few attempts, by Labour every time) had a national ID card and therefore no one in authority has ever had the right to demand that an individual 'shows their papers' or proves how they are, unless they want to interact with the government, or they commit, or are suspected of committing, a crime

In simple terms, the British approach has always been that public servants are just that, they are there to serve the public, not exert control over them. The suspicion, justified based on an increasingly authoritarian government, is that if carrying an ID card, digital or physical, ever becomes mandatory then its is not inconceivable that the government gives all sorts of minor functionaries in local government, as well as the police, the right to demand that one identifies oneself, and makes not having one a crime, at any time.

For many that's an over reach - and given the predilection for your local authorities and police to get carried away - be that spying on parents, fining people tipping coffee down a drain, monitoring social media it's a perspective that is understandable.

Now, you might say that its fine in other European countries, one of which I live in, but there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, they are not on the whole islands, with the mentality that brings, secondly they have almost all been invaded in modern times and so ID cards were a necessity, and thirdly the organisations that can demand you produce ID are clearly defined and regulated.

One could argue that there's no need for an ID card to achieve what they claim to want to achieve, since everyone in the UK with a right to work should have an NI number But, the government has lost control of that data set, with many NI numbers issued to people who aren't entitled to one or don't have the right to work in the UK, and those belonging to people who have died or lost the right to work not being cancelled. In most organisations the solution would be to fix the data set and process you currently have, not simply create a new one which, presumably, has the same risk of going wrong. But, tag the word 'Digital' on it, and suddenly it becomes more robust ;)

Also, calling it a Brit Card sounds a little too National Front for many people, like the misjudged naming of your railways to Brit Rail. Riffing off the '90s New Labour popularity and brit pop presumably...underlining how out of touch they are 😂

If it is mandatory and you have to pay for it, it is a tax.

Terrifying thought

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

I think it's inconsistent to say digital IDs would be bad in the UK - because they MIGHT be asked for in lots of circumstances - but are fine in Europe because they are CURRENTLY asked for only in a defined number of circumstances. Either you're worried about the "slippery slope" or you're not, surely, in the UK and Europe in the same way?

I think a lot of the other arguments are very weak - the UK being an island, or the name BritCard not being a good one.

In addition I think that the government are taking the wrong line in trying to suggest the main value of digital ID would be to do with right to work: many people only apply for a handful of jobs in their whole life. Digital ID on the other hand could be used virtually every day from everything from proving you're 18 in the pub to being used instead of your Tesco clubcard (I understand shop loyalty cards in Estonia use government digital ID to link you to your account).

But as I said, we are OK without one now, so I'm OK with that - and if they decide we should have them I'm OK with that too.

Oh they are not my arguments at all, just my understanding of why it is such a contentious issue in the UK. You are right in the UK to be wary of how the government would misuse it, because there are plenty of examples of where your government, central and local, have misused their powers. That is far tighter controlled in most of Europe, and the sort of powers that have been granted without debate to junior, unqualified local council officials simply would not be allowed in most countries. Look at how misplaced belief in Horizon lead to the biggest abuse of powers that should never have been delegated to the Post Office, and the biggest miscarriage of justice by a government against it's citizens in the western world in living memory.

The other key reason - which does touch on one of your points - is that, across the western world, peoples trust in government is falling. So what people in Europe accepted 100 or whatever years ago they might not accept today...

I agree that the government, which lacks political nous and the ability to put together and stick to a narrative, picked the wrong reason to attach it to. If they'd made it a requirement to access benefits then many of those who are currently vehemently anti would have been vehemently in favour, and over time more and more people would have just ended up needing one anyway.

It's not rocket science - just arrogance and a misplaced belief that they are right because they know what is good for people, if only they would do what they are told!!

I’d agree with all that Trying
I find it quite odd that some people shrug and say “ they know everything anyway” but then I guess, with Google account, supermarket cards, Amazon, etc etc people are sort of boiled frogged into accepting less and less privacy.
However

1. all the info about me isn’t in one place
2. If one bit of info gets leaked or stolen, that is just one bit of info, not absolutely everything
3. I do NOT trust the government of any stripe or the police (especially the Met) not to abuse the power to demand papers
4. Gov IT projects and the billions wasted ( I guarantee)
5. As my immigrant father used to like to say “As an Englishman I am entitled to be left alone unless I have done something wrong”

Exactly, and if the state were going to foot the bill instead there are much better uses of the money.

Oh please!, it’s obvious I have a problem with Nigel fartage & his band of black shirts. Get a grip!

The issue for me is that as you say all this information is readily available so why waste billions that we don't have doing it?
It's really not difficult to prove who you are for most people.
It's really annoying when Starmer waffles on about illegal working. The laws are already in place to make sure people have the right to work they're just not being implemented. I don't know what happens to the firms who employ these people but they need prosecuting and putting out of business.

In one place is the problem.

Also it’s not necessary.

im ok with u turns. I feel
that means they’re listening. Dumb idea in the first place mind.