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A part from being able to log my missed bins, which is a council thing not a government thing.
Genuine Question
What difference is this to my GB Passport, I use my passport for ID verification?
What difference is this to my GB Passport, I use my passport for ID verification?
It is not compulsory and also it is not digital.
You shouldn't need a passport if you never cross borders. Millions of people in the UK don't have a passport.
You shouldn't need a driving license if you never drive. Millions of people in the UK don't drive.
That we treat these document as if they are ID... and have so many requirements for people to prove their ID... suggests there is a hole that needs filling. See the OneGov problem above.... verifying your account without passport, driving license or residents permit is currently non-trivial. Building out from your NI number makes sense for tax etc... but if they start requiring it for services that could be damaging for many of those who most need access to services.
Can you imagine how the official announcement for this digi-ID has panned out?
Yes - in the Telegraph behind a pay wall.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/25/the-left-ignored-immigration-fears-for-too-long/
You can't make this shit up.
"Immigration fears."
Again - blowing everything that Libs thought they were voting for to smithereens.
There's absolutely zero and I mean zero chance of this halting the rise of the populist right.
Labour's Poll tax in real-time.
Your problem getting verified is what needs addressing.
Their motto must be roll out first, test later.
Again - blowing everything that Libs thought they were voting for to smithereens.
Did you miss 2016?
Currently listening to the PM going on about "control of our borders"... it's completely the wrong focus for the UK, for lots of reasons, but it is totally dominating politics, and "Libs" have no way of changing that. Starmer can't ignore it... not that I think his approach will work either. It will feed "immigration fears", not reduce them. But what's the alternative? Tell people they are wrong to focus on immigrants and do nothing to address their fears? Refuse to meet them part way? No pandering to the ignorant? As what could be called a "Lib", that's what I'd do... but does Starmer really have that option?
Again - blowing everything that Libs thought they were voting for to smithereens.
Did you miss 2016?
Aren't we here now?
It just needs to be said that no matter what Starmer comes up with there are some people that just agree with everything even if it invalidates their arguments.
Not buying it Kelvin.
Has putting all those flags on lampposts not fixed everything?
Has putting all those flags on lampposts not fixed everything?
I've not seen Starmer putting them on lamp-posts but he's definitely been seen putting double flags up at every official announcement in recent history.
Has putting all those flags on lampposts not fixed everything?
Typical sneering lefty.
The leader of your party understands the value of patriotism and proudly flying the union flag.
He added: “I am the leader of the Labour Party who put the Union Jack on our Labour Party membership cards. I always sit in front of the Union Jack. I’ve been doing it for years, and it attracted a lot of comment when I started doing it.”
I think that it must be sitting in front of the union jack which is the reason behind Sir Keir Starmer's great policy decisions for the good of Great Britain. You can't go far wrong when you have that level of patriotism.
Can you imagine how the official announcement for this digi-ID has panned out?
Yes - in the Telegraph behind a pay wall.
Top tip: c&p URL and as it's loading press esc, may have to do this several times. Unfortunately these days there's no way to read the comments.
Top tip: c&p URL and as it's loading press esc, may have to do this several times. Unfortunately these days there's no way to read the comments.
This is easier
(If you close the dialogue box at the top you get better contrast)
It just needs to be said that no matter what Starmer comes up with there are some people that just agree with everything even if it invalidates their arguments.
I don't know anyone like that, not even our local Labour MP and councillors. Who are these people that "agree with everything" that Starmer does or says?
Mkay…
Its not really a difficult concept to understand that different people will object to it for different reasons or indeed people could consider that several different negative outcomes are possible.
For me it would be a toss up whether they **** it up entirely by giving it to Capita or **** us over entirely by giving it to Palantir.
Given Starmers aping of the tories either is possible.
Since you are being the grown up in the room though feel free to explain the benefits of the glorious leaders idea.
But replace the word passport with ID card and some folks lose their minds
No because people understand the difference between the two. The "card" isnt the problem its the background data linking which is eg if you look at the Blairite proposal it was basically a proposal to join together multiple disparate databases to provide one nice cohesive whole. As someone else mentions on the thread you then get to the logical extension of "prove your age" using it and now you are in surveillance heaven.
Of course you can try to join all the data up by other means eg thats basically Palantirs business model but its hard and messy.
Absolutely no issue with a digital ID, but you know it will be a fark up and some company will make a fortune for a crap app.
The "card" isnt the problem its the background data linking which is
And yet when someone suggests that there should be a single record system for your healthcare, everyone's all for it.
Frankly, anyone using SM in 2025 to complain about their personal information being held by shady 3rd parties is a bit late to the gangplank
An interesting bit of research into something which baffles me to an extent.
But the Lib Dems’ vote share has been effectively immobile: the party won 13% of the British vote in 2024, and our latest voting intention figures have them at 14%.
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53039-why-wont-people-vote-liberal-democrat
The legacy of the coalition years proves to bother Labour (26%) and Green voters (29%) more than the wider public – indeed, this the second most common reason given among Greens, after not knowing enough about the party (35%).
The irony is that pre coalition days one of the greatest criticism levelled at the LibDems was their lack of experience in national government.
Holding ministerial positions should have remedied that, unfortunately thanks to Nick Clegg it simply confirmed that they weren't much different to the Tories.
It just needs to be said that no matter what Starmer comes up with there are some people that just disagree agree with everything even if it invalidates their arguments.
Just for balance 😉
And yet when someone suggests that there should be a single record system for your healthcare, everyone's all for it.
Not sure where to start with this. I mean we could do the obvious one that actually a lot of people arent in favour of it. Most people with a clue would want a common standard vs a single record system. It gives far better robustness and controls around access to that data.
Secondly healthcare is a single domain.
Thirdly companies, like Palantir, accessing healthcare records is already raising red flags since it is a very problematic domain to give companies owned by anti democratic people access to.
It just needs to be said that no matter what Starmer comes up with there are some people that just disagree agree with everything even if it invalidates their arguments.
Just for balance 😉
Well it might be for balance but it is false. Those on here who constantly criticise Starmer and the direction he is going are perfectly happy to agree with him when he makes a decision they agree with.
EG this comment by rone (outspoken critic of Starmer) on the previous page of this thread.
Half of us having been banging on for years about fixing material conditions - way before Labour came to be in 2024. But it's only now Labour (in the face of terrible polling and public discourse) have come to the conclusion that you need to spend some money in communities with their version of levelling up.
The other half have been going on about black-holes and balancing budgets. Good luck with that (see Argentina.) But as we've explained that ignorance leads to Brexit type reactions and crime increases.
Well it does appear, probably a little to late but welcome. Starmer is about to put the money in.
In contrast people like yourself and binners are never prepared to criticise Starmer, whatever he says or does. According to you two he is the first politician in history to be right about everything.
Irrespective of the pros and cons of an ID system, I think the issue is that after a year of inaction and misteps, after their support has collapsed and Reform look to be on the brink of victory, and after the PLP itself has finally seen what's staring them in the face, the best Starmer and his genius advisors can come up with is a digital ID card. Do they seriously believe the problem all their ex-supporters are most annoyed about is people not having a govt ID card? It's laughable... Frank Spencer government.
I know that's a satire site, but I suspect it will eventually link to everything you do - banking, medical, shopping, online activity, etc etc - which is my main issue with it. That and how safely the data will be protected and/or potentially sold.
lack of ID cards is certainly a factor in making the UK attractive for migrants as its much easier for them to work than in other countries.
However I am still against them in principle
How does an ID card stop someone who is working illegally?
And of course if Farage really is against them then he will just get rid of them (apart from the fact they probably won't be implemented by then after technical and legal issues and going 10 times over budget)
- How can Reform be on the brink of victory when the current government doesn't have to call a general election until August 2029
- How can Reform be on the brink of victory when the current government doesn't have to call a general election until August 2029
Yeah you're right, no need to panic. There's plenty of time to sort it out, lets just keep calm and carry on. 🙄
It's like the brexit campaign repeating itself...
How does an ID card stop someone who is working illegally?
It doesn't change anything for people who want to or have to work illegally.
It makes things much more difficult for people who want to move to the UK to work legally.
How does an ID card stop someone who is working illegally?
Because it makes it harder to do as you can be made to show your ID card. Its certainly thought of as a pull factor
One huge flaw with the plan is that it will be stored on Smartphones - what about those who don't have one? I will get rid of mine before I install and ID card on it
We must also worry about how these cards will be used by future governments.
The government announcement is suspiciously vague on how it will stop illegal working. it explicitly says you won't have to produce it on demand, so I can get work illegally delivering pizza just like today.
I can see how it puts taxpayer cash into the pockets of Palantir and Accenture though.
How does an ID card stop someone who is working illegally?
That's not what it is really for, its about keeping the idea that immigrants stealing jobs is a major factor in economic failure in the news cycle.
And I see the "Starmer's labour isn't really racist, peer pressure made them do it" excuse has already been trotted out as it always is every time Starmer shows us they actually are.
The government announcement is suspiciously vague on how it will stop illegal working.
Spoiler. It probably won't. It should help employers and the HRMC attach everything to the right employees though. You'd be surprised how many people end up with multiple sets of entries (and/or NI numbers) with HRMC.
I can see how it puts taxpayer cash into the pockets of Palantir and Accenture though.
apparently they will not be outsourcing the work, its being done by digital services department.
as for whether it will stop illegal workers, thats partly how its being sold and it would in theory make it easier to track whether people are employed illegally , it would peobably mean the end of deliveroo if it did!
The benefits in theory come from reducing red tape when employing people legally, business didnt like FOM because it gave them access to cheap labour, they liked it coz it meant there was a flexible labour force that could react to new jobs, in part I think this helps with that, theres a ton of red tape when employing new staff so in theory! this could save a lot of hassle and cost for business and employees.
Issues with security and future over-reach are real, though Im sure if pretty much every single other country in Europe (apart from Ireland?) can manage it, we can too.
How does an ID card stop someone who is working illegally?
Because it makes it harder to do as you can be made to show your ID card. Its certainly thought of as a pull factor
Are you suggesting that the primary issue with regards to illegal workers is that they have, up until now, been successfully fooling employers?
I wouldn't claim to be an expert on the issue of illegal working but I suspect that in the areas where the practice is apparently prevalent, such nail bars and carwashes, that the employers who are exploiting these desperate people with no legal status and no cash are fully aware of their immigration status.
In fact I would imagine that employers in sectors which are prevalent in exploiting undocumented workers are actually actively seeking out employees with no legal status.
The idea that the average person running a carwash or nail bar might be surprised to discover that their employees are illegally working is frankly weird.
Last time Labour looked into this ID card, Blunkett introduced the concept around 2005.
It was barely off the ground by 2010, when the Tory/Libs coalition scrapped it.
A waste of at least £5Bn.
A waste of at least £5Bn.
Well desperate times require desperate measures.
An MRP poll out today predicts that if a general election was held tomorrow Reform would be 15 seats short of majority.
And MRP polls have a track record of being extremely accurate. They are also very time consuming and expensive, which is why you only get one every couple of months or so.
i think Ernie's point is right about this being on the employers of illegal workers, its going to have a big impact on the gig economy and those other shadier sources of income
I'm not at all clear on what problems it will solve. Given the risks around expended political capital, data security, and botched implementation, you would expect there to be an overwhelming argument for it.
Are you suggesting that the primary issue with regards to illegal workers is that they have, up until now, been successfully fooling employers?
I think what TJ is referring to is that in Spain (for instance) the cops can rock up to a car wash and ask for everyone's ID. If they can't produce it, they get arrested, rather than folks [who don't have a right to work] pulling the wool over the eyes of employers.
I think what TJ is referring to is that in Spain (for instance) the cops can rock up to a car wash and ask for everyone's ID. If they can't produce it, they get arrested, rather than folks [who don't have a right to work] pulling the wool over the eyes of employers.
What you are talking about there is compulsory ID laws.
Even if you're a tourist in Spain the police can stop you and ask you for ID. If you don't have it on you then you get arrested (and this is the case for all individuals in Spain, you shouldn't leave the house without a government issued ID of some description).
It's got nothing to do with legal right to work. It's just a law saying everyone has to always carry ID.
https://rondatoday.com/carrying-id-when-living-in-spain/
Digital IDs are different in that this is normally a way of identifying individuals for anything vaguely official (banks, doctors, you can even use it to sign documents, etc). They aren't a compulsory ID that has to be carried at all times.
Is the government suggesting compulsory IDs, Digital IDs, or compulsory Digital IDs? Who the hell knows. Perhaps they don't even know themselves.