Keir Starmer has relaunched the controversial policy, stressing its use for every day life
Anyone in the UK who wants to work will have to have digital ID, Sir Keir Starmer has said in an interview with The i Paper.
During what is effectively a relaunch of the policy, the Prime Minister said: “If you want to work, you’ve got to have it.”
However, he insisted that it would be “voluntary” for all other purposes, when questioned by invited reporters on Thursday.
Starmer’s plan to roll out digital ID – which was first revealed by The i Paper last month – has proved highly controversial, with an online petition opposed to the scheme nearing three million signatures.
Initially, the Government promoted the line that the ID was needed to tackle illegal working, which is seen as a key pull factor for migrants who cross the Channel in small boats.
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In an attempt to relaunch the policy, the Prime Minister spoke to journalists at a branch of Barclays Bank, to make a case for the wider benefits of digital ID.
How digital ID ‘will make lives easier’
In an apparent change of tack, Starmer argued that digital ID would “make lives a lot easier”, insisting several times that it “is not going to be mandatory” for purposes such as buying a house or renting somewhere to live.
However, he said it would be compulsory for those wanting to work: “The only area in which it will be mandatory is proving your right to work. Beyond that, totally voluntary.
“If you want to work, you’ve got to have it. That’s because we’ve got too many people who are working illegally, and we’ve got to clamp down on it.
“Otherwise, you don’t need it if you don’t want to have it.”
His words suggest it would also be mandatory for those claiming out-of-work benefits, as they are expected to be actively seeking work, and thus would need an ID card.
The Prime Minister speaks to The i Paper reporter Rhanie Al-Alas
If digital ID is a prerequisite for work, then it will be nearly compulsory for working-age adults.
According to Office for National Statistics data, between June and August, more than 34 million people in the UK were in work, with an employment rate of 75 per cent for people aged 16 to 64.
Starmer said that customers he had spoken to at the bank had shown “enthusiasm” for the idea, because it would remove the “faff” of people having to prove their identity using items such as bank statements.
“I made it really clear to them that apart from working, this is not going to be mandatory, so nobody has to have it,” he said. “But the experience of other countries is that the benefits are so great, and it makes life so much easier, that in the end everybody says, ‘I’d like that because it’s going to make it easier for me.’
“Whether it’s buying a house, or actually sometimes buying a drink if you’re 18 and you want to prove that you are 18, digital ID will do it for you.”
Starmer claims ID will be ‘highly encrypted’
On concerns about cyber security, Starmer said digital ID would be “highly encrypted and very, very secure.” He added that the data would not be shared with private companies for other purposes and that the Government would never use it to track aspects of people’s lives.
Responding to online conspiracy theories that the Government could use it to track things such as an individual’s meat consumption or how many flights they take, he said: “None of that is going to be any part of this; this is just a false rumour.”
‘There’ll be no fining of people for not having it’ Prime Minister Keir Starmer clarified that his controversial Digital ID policy will not be mandatory. At an exclusive event, the PM told The i Paper that people would also not face a fine for avoiding a Digital ID but that it was the ‘easy route’.
♬ original sound – The i Paper – The i Paper
Asked how sure he was that future governments will not use this system to create a social scoring system like in China, the Prime Minister said: “Because this law will have to be set out in primary legislation and therefore it will all be set out in law what the limits are, how it’s controlled and that will be voted for in Parliament.
“So it will be in stone that this is the system and you can’t simply change it because it’s the law.”
He also said people would not be fined for not having it: “This is not something you have to carry or have to produce or anything like that; there will be no fining of people for not having it.”
The Prime Minister said the Government was working on non-digital options for people who do not have a mobile phone or want one.
“For people who don’t have a mobile phone, then this isn’t mandatory, so you don’t have to have it. It will make your life easier if you want it, but you don’t have to have it. We are consulting on what other forms of ID would help them.
“Some people won’t have a mobile phone or they won’t want a mobile phone, and therefore if they do want an ID, we will make another form available to them.”
Civil liberties campaigners are opposed to any kind of mandatory ID. Big Brother Watch was among the groups that opposed the idea of a card when it was first announced, arguing it would be “uniquely harmful to privacy, equality and civil liberties”.
It added that the policy would not tackle pull factors for migrants but instead would “push unauthorised migrants further into the shadows, into more precarious work and unsafe housing”.