What are the digital identity cards, how will they work and will they be compulsory?

The government has announced its intention to introduce a digital identification system across the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer claiming that he would guarantee that the “country borders are safer”.

IDS will not have to be transported day by day, but they will be compulsory for all those who wish to work.

The government claims that the program will be deployed “at the end of Parliament” – meaning before the next general elections, which must be held at the latest in August 2029.

Digital IDs will be used to prove a person’s right to live and work in the United Kingdom.

They will take the form of a system based on applications, stored on smartphones in the same way as the NHS application or digital bank cards.

Information on the status of residence of the holders, the name, the date of birth, nationality and a photo will be included.

Announcing the program, Sir Keir said: “You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you have no digital identification. It’s as simple as that.”

The government says the program is designed to slow down illegal immigration by making people without status to find jobs. The ministers argue that this is one of the main attraction factors for migrants illegally entering the United Kingdom.

Employers will no longer be able to count on a national insurance number – which is currently used in the context of proof of the right to work – or paper checks.

Currently, it is quite easy to borrow, fly or use someone else’s national insurance number and this is part of the problem of the shaded economy – people sharing national insurance numbers for example. The idea is that having an attached image would make it – in theory – more difficult to abuse this system.

However, the conservative chief Kemi Badenoch said that although there are arguments “for and against” digital identification, which makes him compulsory “requires an appropriate national debate”.

In an article on X, she said, “Can we really trust [Labour] To implement an expensive national program that will have an impact on all our lives and put additional charges on people who respect the law? I doubt it. “

The Attorney General of the Liberal Democrats, Ben Maguire, told the BBC that the party “struggled” to see how politics would have a significant impact on illegal migration.

Digital ID will be available for all British citizens and legal residents and compulsory to work.

However, for students, retirees or others are not looking for work, having a digital identity card will be optional.

Officials also point out that it will not work as a traditional identity card: people will not be required to wear it in public.

Ministers have excluded the requirement of identity for access to health care or social payments.

However, the system is designed to integrate into certain government services, in order to simplify applications and reduce fraud.

The government has said that over time, digital IDs would facilitate the demand for services such as driving licenses, childcare services and well-being. He said it would also simplify access to tax files.

The government has promised that the system would be “inclusive” and will work for those who have no smartphones, passports or reliable internet access.

A public consultation which should be launched later this year will include a search for alternatives – including physical documents or face -to -face support – for groups such as elderly or homeless.

The British government said it “would take the best aspects” of the digital identification systems used elsewhere in the world, notably Estonia, Australia, Denmark and India.

Each of these countries has its own unique system, but everyone uses it as a means for people to prove who they are when they access certain government or banking services.

• Estonia presented its compulsory digital identification system in 2002 and people use it to access medical files, vote, banks and digital signatures. It is mainly stored on people’s smartphones as a digital version of an identity card
• Australia and Denmark have digital identification applications that people can download and use to connect to government and private services. Neither requires citizens have it
• India has a system by which people can obtain a unique 12 -digit reference number to be used as proof of residence and identity

Many other countries also use the digital identification of one type or another, notably Singapore, Greece, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Arab Emirates, China, Costa Rica, South Korea and Afghanistan.

Yes. Tony Blair’s Labor Government has legislated for voluntary identity cards in the early 2000s.

However, the program was reinforced in 2011 by the coalition led by the Conservatives, who argued that it was too expensive and intrusive.

The United Kingdom has only had compulsory identity cards in wartime. Although they stayed in place for several years after the Second World War, the government of Winston Churchill canceled them in 1952 following criticism on costs and the use of the police.

Civil liberties argue that even a limited digital identifier could open the way to a more intrusive system, which raises concerns about confidentiality, data security and government surpassing.

Big Brother Watch, alongside seven other organizations, wrote to the Prime Minister who urged him to abandon the plan, saying that he “pushes the unauthorized migrants further in the shadows”.

More than a million people have signed a petition against the introduction of digital identity cards on the website of the British Parliament. Petitions that obtain more than 100,000 signatures are taken into account for a debate in Parliament.

The other eminent criticisms include former conservative minister of the cabinet David Davis – who campaigned against the Labor Identity Card Program in the 2000s.

He said that “no system is immune to failure” and warned that governments and technological companies have failed to protect people’s data.