Latest news with #IDcards
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The small boats crisis could make Blair's digital ID dream a reality
The last time a Labour government tried to introduce ID cards, Britain was a very different place. It was a pre-smartphone era, and less than half of the population had an internet connection, let alone social media. Privacy was expected. In 2002, five months after 9/11, David Blunkett, home secretary at the time, proposed a national 'entitlement card' designed to crack down on fraudulent use of benefits and the NHS. The plan ultimately morphed into an ID card scheme tied to a national identity register, a central record of citizens. Civil liberties campaigners howled, and despite the then prime minister Tony Blair's enthusiasm, the public never bought into the idea. The coalition government scrapped the idea in 2011, with immigration minister Damian Green personally feeding the hard drives into an industrial shredder. Few lamented the scheme's downfall. But Britain was also a different country in another way. In 2002, net migration into Britain was 172,000, compared with 431,000 last year. Illegal migration is more difficult to measure, but estimates suggest the size of this population has exploded, and small boat crossings have made the problem painfully visible. Asylum claims are at a record high. Immigration is now seen as the most important political issue by the British public, whereas two decades ago the NHS and terrorism were stronger priorities. Blair's ID card push came in the wake of terrorist attacks and was justified on national security grounds. Modern-day promoters of ID cards now believe that concerns around immigration could be the secret to reviving public appetite for a national scheme. Labour Together, the Westminster think tank seen as being closest to the Labour leadership, said last month that a digital 'BritCard' would be the most effective way for people to prove they have the right to be in the UK. Rather than the plastic cards proposed under New Labour, this would involve a mandatory free ID, downloadable on to a smartphone, that could be used to check people's age, their right to drive, work, rent and open bank accounts. The group says that 80pc of the public supports a digital identity in some form. The joint most popular reason for backing the idea is it would deter people from coming to the UK illegally to work. 'The polling is pretty conclusive that people like the idea of a system by which you can prove who you are', says Jake Richards, a Labour MP who supports the idea. 'I don't think there's this big civil liberties argument against it as there was in the Noughties.' Richards points out that many pieces of a digital ID are already in the works, although ministers do not call it that. The Government's digital services are already being combined into a single online system known as 'One Login' used to access childcare benefits, apply for grants and apply for training. Ministers are launching a digital driving licence later this year through a wallet service. Legal migrants must already display an eVisa when applying for jobs. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, is trying to centralise NHS data as a 'patient passport' by 2028. Blunkett recently argued that the Government should admit this effectively amounts to a digital ID. 'If something's going to happen, you might as well get some credit for it,' he wrote in Prospect magazine. Today, proving one's identity and right to work can involve an array of different documents and processes. There are 16 different ways for UK nationals to prove they have the right to work in the UK. A government-issued ID that displays credentials such as a person's name, right to work, whether they are over 18 and whether they have a driver's licence would, in theory, be harder to game. Proponents also claim that a digital ID card would cost significantly less than its analogue counterpart. In 2005, one analysis claimed that ID cards could cost around £18bn, or roughly £300 per person. Labour Together has estimated that the digital equivalent would cost between £150m and £400m, less than what the Home Office spends annually tackling illegal immigration. Rachel Coldicutt, a technology strategist who has studied digital IDs, says that this may be optimistic. 'Conservatively, you need to put another zero on those figures,' she says. 'Any solution needs to be absolutely rock solid from a technical perspective, and getting that right and usable by everyone is much, much harder than sending out a driver's licence. The real issue is that this could be a white elephant.' Debate on digital ID benefits Coldicutt is also sceptical about the benefits. ' People smugglers won't be scanning IDs before letting people onto small boats, and employers who don't check ID won't suddenly start obeying the law,' she says. While not a silver bullet for solving the problem of illegal migration, supporters argue that making it easier to check IDs would at least help. Verifying the multitude of potential documents can be expensive for employers, so many do not bother, and the multitude of potential documents makes it trivial to fake them. Measures such as last week's announcement that the Government will share the location of asylum hotels with food delivery companies to cut down on illegal working suggest the system, as it stands, can be easily bypassed. A free ID checking app, in comparison, would provide instant answers. Opposition to ID cards in Britain has often stemmed from historical liberties. Critics say digital IDs are reminiscent of a 'papers, please' society that Britain has never been. The only times they have existed have been during the two world wars, as well as the postwar period when practices such as rationing remained. But that argument holds less weight in a world in which we regularly part with personal information to shop online, or, in social media's case, merely to show off. As of last week, adult websites and social media sites must now verify users' ages, so that children are not shown inappropriate material. In other words, people must show ID. Opponents argue that digital IDs would be exclusionary to those without modern smartphones, but the argument is fading as more jobs require staff to be tethered to WhatsApp. Even if there are potential difficulties, Labour MPs are desperate to find a way to counter the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK, for whom each immigration scandal leads to a potential bump in the polls. In April, a group of more than 40 Labour MPs said digital ID cards were needed to take control of the migration system, saying 'this Government will only succeed if it is able to get a grip on illegal migration'. 'Lots of colleagues come up and say yes, that time has come', says Richards, the Labour MP. 'I think there's a lot of hunger for it.' The Government itself is yet to commit to the idea, beyond saying it is 'examining' proposals for a BritCard. But if the boats keep coming and the public gets behind the idea, Sir Keir Starmer may yet succeed in doing what Sir Tony couldn't.
The Herald
08-07-2025
- The Herald
Extended hours at home affairs offices during school holidays
Home affairs offices will be open until 6pm on weekdays until July 21. Department spokesperson Siya Qoza said the two-hour extension in operating hours is to assist people, including pupils, who want to apply for and collect their IDs during the school holidays. To reduce queues, appointments before visiting offices can be booked on the department's website. Home affairs has also introduced dedicated counters for collections in large offices that process smart ID Cards and passports, where space allows. People who have been waiting three weeks or more for their ID cards are encouraged to visit their home affairs offices to check if their cards are ready for collection. TimesLIVE
The Sun
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Britain's borders are broken – and we can only mend them by bringing in ID cards
FOR most people that I meet , concern about immigration is more about those arriving on small boats than those coming legally to study or work. It is the undocumented arrivals that worry people, not least when they remain here illegally and disappear into the sub-economy organised by criminal gangs. 2 Over 40,000 people arrived on our shores from France last year, and that number is expected to be much higher in 2025. Unknown numbers of those arriving this way are not claiming asylum but are absorbed into the 'black market'. They melt away to work as cash-in-hand labourers or in car washes or barbers' shops in towns and cities across the United Kingdom. It is a cycle of exploitation that leaves everyone poorer. Illegal immigrants are paid a pittance, British workers are undercut, and the state does not get any tax from this illicit economy. We have the tools to confront this abuse - but have failed to use it. The time has come to bring in ID cards. I have spoken over many years about the importance of introducing a comprehensive and robust identity system in the UK. But we have reached a moment of reckoning. The government must grasp the nettle and come up with a proper plan for ID cards, and all the safeguards that must go with it. Identity cards are a simple, cheap and practical way of tackling the illegal immigration crisis and the black market. Everyone with a right to live and work in Britain would have their details on their card. For most of us, the card would be uploaded to our smartphone - like the NHS app or our Covid vaccine passports. If someone does not have a smartphone they could carry a small ID card around in their wallet, just like a driving licence. This simple, pocket-sized card would immediately transform the state's ability to crack down on illegal immigration. At a glance the authorities would be able to tell if someone is in Britain legally or illegally. If migrants needed an ID card to work in Britain, claim benefits or receive NHS treatment, they would be far less likely to come here illegally, something that the Government has already acknowledged in the White Paper in May. By its very existence, the scheme would stem the tide of small boat migrants. Bosses would be required to check that all their workers have a proper ID card. If they didn't then sorry - no job. Dodgy bosses who hire illegal immigrants without the proper ID would be more easily identified by inspectors. Without the ability to earn cash, illegal migrants would be far less likely to come here in the first place. Those who are here would be more easily identified and deported. This would in turn help British workers, whose wages would no longer be undercut by illegal workers. And it would help the British state by ensuring businesses are legitimate and paying their fair share of tax. 2 I know ID cards can work because I tested them when I was Home Secretary. Sadly only 15,000 were rolled out. Back then, in the early 2000s, migrants were being smuggled into the UK hidden in lorries arriving through the Channel Tunnel. We saw that trade slashed by two thirds. People smuggling gangs realised it was not worth trafficking people to the UK if they could not work or claim benefits here. ID cards worked. It made no sense to ditch them. But the Coalition government of 2010 scrapped them. That was a decision that has harmed our borders ever since. I wont pretend ID cards were not controversial. Civil liberties campaigners railed against the scheme raising the spectrum of a knock on the door and a demand to see proof of identity. But this was always a farcical caricature. Most of us have willingly handed over our data when we sign up for a social media account, or get a loyalty card with our favourite supermarket. Big tech companies like Elon Musk's X or Facebook already know nearly all our details and have the capacity to analyse our online activity. Mobile phones track our activity; where we have gone that day and even how many steps we have taken. The introduction of ID cards would not create a police state, but would be a crucial weapon in our armoury to fight illegal immigration. Properly organised, with built in safeguards, an identity system of this kind would safeguard us all.
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
ID cards: the thin end of an authoritarian wedge
It's arguable whether ID cards could help to either deter illegal immigration or persuade Reform-curious voters to swing back to Labour (Digital ID cards would be good for Britain – and a secret weapon for Labour against Reform, 9 June). On the first, actors in the informal economy are adept at getting around new mechanisms. On the second, a canny political operator like Nigel Farage is just as likely to turn any such move to Labour's disadvantage. Maybe the benefits of ID cards would outweigh the costs if they could be introduced at the flick of a switch. But the cost and effort would be huge. (The costings produced by Labour Together look more than optimistic.) So, ID cards might be a 'nice-to-have' if the government was on an even keel, with the luxury of time and resources to spare – but it isn't. The government needs to be much better at focusing finite resources – especially delivery expertise – on the problems that really matter (the NHS, housing, schools) and stop wasting time on things that don' RewLondon ID cards are the slippery slope to control. When everything in your life is connected to a digital ID, it is simple to ensure that you comply. I am a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen, and if an authority (ie the police) wishes to know my name and address, I am happy to tell them. If they are not happy with my answer and deem that I am committing some offence, they can arrest me. I feel no obligation to prove who I am. What I get very concerned about is giving some authority the ability to control me. I might be part of a peaceful demonstration, protesting against a government decision that I do not agree with. With universal ID, it would be very easy to request a person's card, record it and then mark someone as a possible dissenter. Let's not usher something along these lines in to appease the likes of Nigel Farage. Call him out for what he is. My mother, who had to deal with the Nazis in Holland (she was hustled to a German work camp as slave labour) said to me: 'Never live in a country that demands you carry an ID.'Anthony BaylisEgham, Surrey Good luck with the proposals for a digital identity system. Recently I tried to log into my HMRC account to give my bank details to obtain a tax refund. Although I have had the account since Covid, I was told that I now needed to verify my identity by providing a passport or driving licence. I do not drive and my passport expired a while ago. I am therefore excluded from the app. Will people like me also be excluded from applying for a universal ID?Teresa Loyd-JonesNottingham Polly Toynbee blithely deals with the obvious risks of identity cards in a couple of lines. She writes that a fairly serious problem like having your 'access to everything' cut off would have to be 'dealt with instantly by senior enough officials to make robust decisions with rapid appeal to courts not blocked by backlogs'. Since none of that happens in pretty much any part of our society, a lot needs to change before I'd be happy with the BritCard as DawsonHeywood, Lancashire Surely Polly Toynbee was pulling her readers' collective legs? Every thought in this article appears to pander to Reform's anti-immigrant prejudices rather than make any kind of argument against them. ID cards, especially on smartphones, are wide open to abuse by any possible future authoritarian government. Is this the Polly I've admired for so many years?Dirk van SchieReigate, Surrey Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Jersey ID card scheme for French day-trippers criticised
Jersey's ID scheme for French day-trippers risks opening a "dangerous backdoor" into the UK, the shadow home secretary Chris Philp has last week unanimously agreed to continue the scheme which allows French day-trippers to visit Jersey using their national ID cards rather than a Affairs Minister Deputy Mart Le Hegarat said she had been sent a letter by her UK counterparts outlining concerns. The BBC has requested a copy of the Home Office said: "Crown dependencies are self-governing, with their own immigration requirements which we cannot comment on." Philp said the ID scheme was a "glaring loophole" in the Common Travel Area and "undermined our national immigration rules"."Allowing entry on ID cards rather than passports risks opening a dangerous backdoor into the UK," he said."The government's job is to keep our borders secure."Ministers must urgently set out what safeguards are in place to prevent abuse and ensure this policy isn't exploited as a route into mainland Britain without proper checks." 'Right safeguards' Le Hegarat said Jersey officials had had "ongoing formal engagement on this matter with the UK government since 2023"."Now that we have a clear mandate from the assembly, I will continue this engagement with UK ministers and ensure we can continue to operate the scheme with the right safeguards in place," she said."Until those discussions progress, I'm not in a position to comment further."Guernsey is yet to make a decision on whether to continue its ID card scheme for French visitors but the BBC understands the island's Committee for Home Affairs is considering an extension.
