In response to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to stop illegal immigration and lessen the apparent threat from the populist Reform UK party, the British government announced last week that all employees will be required to carry a digital identity card.
Addressing the Global Progress Action Summit on Friday – alongside leaders from Canada, Australia and Iceland – Starmer said his left-leaning Labour government had been overly “squeamish” about discussing voters ‘ concerns on immigration.
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That, he added, has allowed parties such as Reform UK – which campaigns on a strongly anti-immigrant ticket – to gain popularity. Polling organizations have predicted that Reform, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, will likely face Labour’s main challenger in the upcoming election, which will take place in 2029.
He said, “I am announcing today that this government will require the use of a new, free digital ID for the right to work by the end of this parliament.”
But Starmer’s move has led to a civil liberties row in the United Kingdom, where the concept of national identity cards has traditionally been unpopular. What we are aware of is this.
Why do Labour and Reform have a fight over immigration?
“There’s a battle for the soul of this country now as to what sort of country we want to be”, Starmer told a conference of left-wing and liberal Western leaders on September 26. That’s why I want to see this as a direct conflict between Reform and Labour.
In light of rising concerns about immigration into the UK, which are fueled by record-breaking numbers of illegal small-boat crossings from France to the UK this year, Reform UK, led by the right-wing populist Farage, has surpassed Labour in polls of opinion.
In an effort to assuage right-wing voters concerned about immigration, Starmer wrote in an article in the conservative Telegraph newspaper on September 25: “There is no doubt that for years, left-wing parties, including my own, did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration”.
In a general election, Reform would most likely win 311 seats in the British Parliament, which is significantly higher than the 5 seats it currently holds, while Labour would drop to 144 from 399 at the moment.
The UK House of Commons has 650 seats in total. To win a majority, a single party must win more than half, 326 seats.
Reform has pledged to deport undocumented immigrants in large numbers if it wins the next election.
The UK government wants to introduce digital IDs for what reasons?
The UK government’s website says: “The new digital ID scheme will make it easier for people across the UK to use vital government services”.
According to the website, it will “improve access to public services like social benefits” by making it simpler for everyone to quickly and easily prove their identity. It will also be used to verify your identity when you cast ballots, and it will help to stop identity theft by minimizing the personal information you provide.
However, Starmer told attendees at the Global Progress Action Summit that digital IDs would also “make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure” as it would make it much harder for people without permission to be in the country to find a job.
According to Starmer, “digital ID presents a significant opportunity for the UK.”
According to the ministers, one of the main draws on undocumented immigrants to the UK is the relatively low prevalence of ID cards in Europe, where they are more prevalent, because of the relative ease of finding work without a visa.
Germany, France, Greece, Spain and Italy require citizens and residents to hold them, and last weekend, Switzerland narrowly approved a plan to introduce voluntary electronic ID cards as well.
What would the operation of digital IDs be?
The Labour Together think tank, which has a close relationship with the ruling party, has suggested the concept of a digital “Brit Card.” In June, it published a paper which put forward the concept of a free digital ID, stored on a person’s smartphone using a planned “gov. “uk Wallet” app
It is understood that a holder’s name, birthdate, nationality, and photo will all be listed along with their residency status. The card could then be presented to employers, immigration officials and banks to verify a person’s legal status in the country.
To demonstrate their identity when applying for jobs or services such as banking, UK citizens are currently required to present a passport or driving license. However, the government claims that 93% of adults are smartphone owners, and that 10% of UK citizens have never held a passport.
Though Starmer’s proposal has not been fully fleshed out yet, the digital ID would be held by all UK citizens and legal residents. Uncertain whether self-employed people would need a digital ID to work, or whether unemployed people would need one unless they were looking for work.
Users could also gain access to services like tax records, child care, and social welfare benefits with the ID over time.
According to the UK government’s website: “You will need just one ID in one secure place on your phone. Without disclosing your physical passport, birth certificate, or driving license, as well as your various utility bills and council tax letters, this will make it simpler to access some services.
Instead of waiting for manual checks and paperwork, it will instantly establish who you are. That means you can get faster service across government departments.
By verifying your identity in seconds rather than days or weeks, it will save you time from filling out forms and scanning documents.
More than half of Brits now support a national identity card scheme, according to Ipsos polls conducted in July, despite their previous opposition to national ID cards.
The Labour Party attempted to introduce an identity card when it was in power in the 2000s under then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, but the plan was dropped because of civil liberty concerns.
What flaws does a digital ID have?
Privacy concerns
Although Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the government had “no intention of pursuing a dystopian mess”, civil liberty groups say they are concerned about privacy issues as people would be required to provide personal information to be stored on a government app.
There is still a lot of resistance to the idea, according to Tony Travers, a professor in the government department at the London School of Economics, despite the fact that more people are favoring national digital ID today than they were in the past.
“Digital ID cards are a significant cultural and political impediment in the UK.” Many people feel they are one short step from authoritarianism and state control”, he told Al Jazeera.
More than 1.6 million people have already signed a petition on the website of the UK Parliament to stop the use of digital ID cards. Submissions exceeding 100 000 signatures must be taken into account for Parliamentary debate.
The Liberal Democrats party has also said it will not support mandatory ID cards. People would be “forced to turn over their private data just to go about their daily lives,” according to party spokesperson Victoria Collins last week.
Marginalization of already vulnerable groups
Elsewhere, some research groups have suggested that digital IDs could create additional barriers for people already living on the margins, and exacerbate the risks of exploitation, social exclusion and poverty for undocumented migrants.
A non-partisan civil liberties organization called Big Brother Watch has written to the prime minister to urge him to abandon the plan, saying it will “push unauthorised migrants further into the shadows.”
Digital ID “will not stop illegal immigration,” according to the statement.
The leader of the Conservative Party, which governed the UK till last year, Kemi Badenoch, dismissed the plans for a digital ID as a “gimmick that will do nothing to stop the boats”.
Reform UK, in contrast, referred to the plans as a “cynical ploy” intended to “fool” voters into believing immigration policies are being implemented.
Farage stated in a statement in the right-wing Daily Express newspaper last week that “the Labour government’s plan to impose digital ID cards on all adults will not help combat undocumented immigration. But it will give the state more power to control the British people”.
Tony Travers disagrees that Starmer’s proposal will actually do nothing to stop illegal immigration. One of a number of proposals made in response to the problem is present.
Source: Aljazeera
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