Children as young as 13 could be forced to have digital ID cards under ‘sinister’ plans to expand the role of the state in people’s lives.
A petition against digital ID signed by almost three million people has been dismissed by ministers who vowed to press ahead with imposing them before the election.
In a formal response, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the government would introduce ID cards for everyone aged 16 and over by the time of the next election.
And, in a significant extension of the scheme, the department said ministers will now consult on bringing in so-called ‘Brit Cards’ for children as young as 13.
The response also suggests that the scheme will expand far beyond the original proposal to tackle illegal working – with ID cards potentially needed to access a wide range of public services. It states that digital ID will eventually become people’s ‘boarding pass to government’.
Silkie Carlo, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said digital ID was ‘fast becoming a digital permit required to live our everyday lives’.
She added: ‘Starmer has sold his Orwellian digital ID scheme to the public on the lie that it will only be used to stop illegal working but now the truth, buried in the small print, is becoming clear.
‘We now know that digital IDs could be the backbone of a surveillance state and used for everything from tax and pensions to banking and education.
‘The prospects of enrolling even children into this sprawling biometric system is sinister, unjustified and prompts the chilling question of just what he thinks the ID will be used for in the future.
‘No one voted for this and millions of people who have signed the petition against it are simply being ignored.’
Conservative MP Greg Smith warned that the scale of the government’s plans had ‘sinister implications for the future’.
‘Digital ID opens up a Pandora’s Box for big state, intrusive government,’ he said. ‘This raises big questions about what they might be used for in the future. Why on earth are they suggesting children need them? Could they be told to produce them to go to school?
‘We risk ending up with a situation where the law-abiding majority face more state interference in their lives while the illegal migrants who this is supposedly aimed at carry on ignoring the rules as they do at the moment.’
Sir Keir Starmer defended the plan, saying the government could not ‘shirk’ from tackling illegal immigration.
Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, the Prime Minister said: ‘On digital ID, let me be really clear – we have made a commitment to do whatever we can to stop people arriving illegally in the UK. One of the issues is the ability people have to work in our economy illegally. We have to do something about that – we can’t shirk that. We had a strong manifesto commitment to deal with it.
‘The vast majority of people in the UK wants it gripped and we need to therefore take the measures necessary to grip it.’
Sir Keir said digital ID would also trigger ‘great benefits’ for the public in speeding up access to public services.
A public petition stating ‘Do not introduce digital ID cards’ has now been signed by more than 2.8 million people and will be debated by MPs in the coming weeks.
The government’s response states that the system will be introduced before the next election, with people required to produce their digital ID when they take a new job to prove they have the right to work in this country.
It suggests that the document is likely to be needed for accessing a wide range of government services in future, including claiming benefits and paying tax.
‘People in the UK already know and trust digital credentials held in their phone wallets to use in their everyday lives, from paying for things to storing boarding passes,’ the response states. ‘The new system will be built on similar technology and be your boarding pass to government.’
However, the response insists that failure to have a digital ID card will not be a criminal offence and that the police will not be able to demand people produce one.
