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What is puzzling elsewhere in Europe is that few issues in Britain generate as much controversy as a national identity system. Opponents have long condemned ID cards as a path to an Orwellian surveillance state. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has already ruled out a suggestion that his Labor government should introduce digital ID cards to control immigration. But as Britain seeks to reform and modernize its broken public services despite the disputes and difficulties, it would make sense to integrate a digital identity system into the plans.
Digital IDs have potential benefits that go far beyond the old photo IDs. They typically combine a comprehensive digital identifier with personal information and biometric data and can be used to facilitate access to public services and transactions with private companies. They can be expanded to store official documents, qualifications, membership cards and become a digital wallet. Estonia, an “E-State” pioneer whose citizens can use it E-IDs The system is estimated to save money on everything from ordering prescriptions to voting 2 percent of GDP per year. Other countries such as AustraliaSingapore and Italy have introduced digital ID systems, either voluntary or mandatory.
A British electronic ID card could boost public service reform, for example helping to integrate personal health records and patient data and streamlining welfare benefits. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a think tank founded by the former prime minister (a long-time supporter of digital IDs), Estimates Such a system could boost public finances by around £2 billion a year, mainly by reducing benefit fraud and improving tax collection, in addition to broader economic gains. It assumes it will be a voluntary system, building in part on the government’s existing – but unremarkable – ones. A login An initiative to enable single sign-in to government services could be launched within an election cycle and 90 percent of citizens would sign up.
A functional digital ID could eliminate the hassle of searching for documents when opening a bank account or buying a home and help prevent identity theft. Proponents argue that a national identity system could also help reduce the number of “small boat” migrants crossing the English Channel. Anecdotal evidence suggests that one of the UK’s main attractions is that the lack of ID cards makes it easier to disappear into the shadow economy than in many other European countries. Requiring an electronic ID card to access social services and housing could have a negative impact on illegal migrants and human trafficking gangs.
There are many reasons for caution. Given the sensitivity to data privacy and the dangers of hacking and cyberattacks, it is crucial to use the right technology. The UK has a dismal record in public sector IT – the Post Office Horizon scandal comes to mind. Some Labor insiders argue a digital ID plan is too complex and politically damaging to add to the challenge of rebuilding already overstretched and cash-strapped services. Some are scarred by the shame that doomed a post-9/11 national identity system introduced by the Blair government in much more favorable economic times.
But there are plenty of working systems elsewhere that Britain could learn from or copy. Much of public sector IT is so outdated that it is worth moving to the next generation of technology, as Estonia did in the 1990s. Privacy arguments have less force when most adults happily carry smartphones full of apps that can track everything from the number of steps they take to the color of socks they buy.
While the opposition is still vocal, a YouGov poll last year found more than half of adults in the UK supported compulsory ID. A UK e-ID would require debate and consultation. It wouldn’t be easy. But if Britain really wants a modern state, then this moment has come.
