Compulsory Digital ID an unnecessary step too far
The UK Government’s proposal to introduce mandatory Digital ID for every citizen is one of the most alarming policies we have seen in recent years.
It is an intrusive and authoritarian plan that will only increase mass surveillance and allow the government to target refugees and other marginalised communities. The compulsory nature is an affront to democracy and choice and an attempt to turn all our public service workers into border guards.
It feels like another step in a worrying pattern. We have already seen the imposition of voter ID at UK elections, which restricts and discourages democratic participation. We now hear the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggesting that birth certificates should be checked before people are allowed to use toilets. Taken together, these developments point to a creeping normalisation of surveillance and control. I don’t believe that is the kind of country that most people want to live in.
Labour’s proposals risk creating a society where everyone must prove who they are simply to go about their daily lives. Is this really the future we want? It has all the makings of Keir Starmer’s poll tax, a policy that is so unpopular and unjust that it unites people against it and the Prime Minister.
In Scotland, the question of consent will be critical. If the Scottish Parliament rejects the imposition of compulsory digital ID on people here, will the UK Government respect that decision? Or will Westminster once again overrule Scotland’s elected representatives and impose its will regardless?
Labour is always telling us that they cannot afford to support pensioners in the winter or fund services we all rely on, but they have found hundreds of millions of pounds for a scheme like this that wasn’t even in their manifesto. The most ironic part of all this is that voluntary digital ID can actually be a good idea. Many countries, from Australia and Denmark to India, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada have adopted voluntary digital identity systems.
These schemes are not mandatory. Instead, they give people a convenient tool to access public and private services more efficiently, particularly helping the most vulnerable. That is the right way to use technology to serve the public. Labour’s plan is the opposite.
We often criticise the United States for sliding down an authoritarian path, but the Labour leadership is now assembling a toolkit that could take the UK in the same direction. Controlling who can vote, who can use public spaces and forcing every person to prove they have the right to exist in this country, is not progress. We should all pause to imagine what might happen if such powers were ever handed to someone like Nigel Farage. It is a terrifying thought, and one we must resist before it becomes reality.
Lorna Slater is a Scottish Greens MSP for Lothian