posted 6th October 2025
The UK government is planning to introduce digital ID cards. Is this a good idea?
For
Pragmatic
ID cards make it easier to keep track of who is and who isn’t allowed in the country. This makes it easier to manage migration in a fair and effective way. They are an efficient ‘one-stop shop’ for documents like driving licences, NHS information etc., enabling us to access government services much more easily.
Now that so much of life is online it is an anachronism to depend on paper documents. Life will be much easier when you do not have to print off a gas bill to provide proof of address. Nor will you need to worry about your wallet being lost or stolen - everything will be backed up in the cloud.
Principled
Having recognisable ID is simply part of your responsibility to society. We should do it to keep us all safe. People don’t complain about having to show their membership card when they go to the gym; they know it’s a way of ensuring that only those who have paid their fees can access the facilities. Similarly, society is a kind of club which brings both rights and responsibilities - ID is its membership card.
We already hand over huge amounts of data to apps and social media sites, which they use for their own enrichment, with very little transparency; much better to let the government, which is properly regulated and elected by us, have that data.
Against
Pragmatic
Smartphones are not owned by 8% of the population. This number is much higher in marginalised communities, such as the elderly, the disabled, and poorer people. Making digital ID mandatory to access government services would marginalise them even further.
Recent cyberattacks on major businesses such as Marks and Spencers and Jaguar Land Rover have crippled them for weeks. It is very dangerous to centralise our data in this way, leaving us vulnerable to ransom attacks by criminals or subversion by hostile powers. Additionally, it won’t be long before criminals devise ways to forge digital ID. All systems are fallible, but the fallibility of digital systems has larger consequences.
Principled
Privacy is a fundamental human right. We should not be obliged to hand over our personal information to the government just to make administration easy. It is the mark of an overreaching, intrusive state.
Digital ID is dangerous. It might start with just your national insurance number and your GP’s address, but a future government could abuse the system. Under the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, everyone had to carry a ‘pass book’ which included their racial classification. It was used as a way of restricting Black people to certain areas. What would stop a future government in the UK doing something similar with digital ID?
Motion
This house would introduce digital ID cards.
