Keir Starmer is set to announce plans for a mandatory national digital ID system, dubbed the “Brit Card”, in a move critics say strips away freedoms and paves the way for unprecedented state control.
The scheme will require every adult in Britain to hold a digital identity card, which must be presented when applying for work or renting a home.
Employers and landlords would then check details against a central government database.
Labour insists the plan will help tackle illegal immigration and end the black market in jobs. But opponents warn the system represents an alarming encroachment on privacy and personal freedoms.
“Passports already exist. Why do we need another form of compulsory ID?” asked one critic. “This is the thin end of the wedge – once they’re in place, they could be linked to bank accounts, used to track travel, or even measure how far you drive from home and charge you per mile.”
Civil liberties groups argue the dangers are vast. “Who will have access to this treasure trove of personal data?” one campaigner said. “The NHS, police, credit card companies, or foreign governments? Once the system exists, there’s no limit to its uses – and no guarantee it won’t be hacked or stolen.”
Labour has tried this before. In 2009, the last Labour government introduced ID cards, only for them to be scrapped by the Conservative-led coalition on the grounds they were an “erosion of civil liberties.” Many see Starmer’s revival of the idea as proof he is more interested in appeasing globalist backers than protecting the British public.
“The claim that this is about illegal immigration is the biggest lie of all,” said one senior backbencher. “If that were true, why make law-abiding citizens carry a digital ID to get a job or rent a flat? This is about monitoring ordinary people, nothing more, nothing less.”
Edward Oakenfull, a director at the Great British PAC said: “In effect, because of this government’s abject failure to stop the boats, Sir Keir is forcing the rest of us law abiding citizens to be digitally identified everywhere we go. This is truly draconian.”
Even within Labour, there is unease. Yvette Cooper was long sceptical about ID cards, preferring to strengthen visa systems. But Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been outspoken in her support. Earlier this month she insisted: “I do think digital ID has a role to play for dealing with our migration.”
Britain remains one of the few European nations without a mandatory national ID card system, and many believe that is a freedom worth keeping. As one privacy campaigner put it: “Labour scrapped our freedoms once before. The question now is whether voters will let them do it again.”
The Prime Minister is expected to announce tomorrow (Friday) his backing in principle for his so-called “Brit card”.
Wow! An amazing confession from Keir Starmer. Labour got it wrong on migration. (TELEGRAPH)
We must block Andy Burnham from becoming Prime Minister to protect brexit