The U.K. Labour Party is pushing for a digital ID for its citizens, a reprisal of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s attempt under his premiership two decades ago, this time under the guise of using it to stop illegal immigration. Many, however, are raising concerns and warning about its implications for security and civil liberties. 

The Labour government released a statement on Sept. 26 announcing plans to institute a free digital ID for U.K. citizens, claiming it will thwart the employment of illegal migrants by enhancing Right to Work checks. It does not address the housing, monetary and educational assistance provided to illegal migrants who apply for asylum and receive benefits until their cases are decided. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has claimed the digital ID initiative is necessary to combat the illegal immigration that has been plaguing the U.K. 

Over 43,600 migrants arrived by small boats onto British shores this year alone, and a record of 111,084 asylum applications were filed in the second quarter of the year. In 2022, when illegal migration by boat also hit a peak of 43,500, 300 hotels were used to house asylum seekers at taxpayers’ expense, according to The Spectator’s data tracker. 

“I know working people are worried about the level of illegal migration into this country. A secure border and controlled migration are reasonable demands, and this government is listening and delivering,” Starmer said.

“Digital ID is an enormous opportunity for the U.K. It will make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure. And it will also offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly — rather than hunting around for an old utility bill,” the prime minister added. 

The Labour government has indicated that digital ID will be mandatory for Right to Work checks by the end of Parliament. “There will be no requirement for individuals to carry their ID or be asked to produce it — but digital ID will be mandatory as a means of proving your Right to Work.” 

“This will stop those with no right to be here from being able to find work, curbing their prospect of earning money, one of the key ‘pull factors’ for people who come to the U.K. illegally,” the government added in its press release promoting the digital ID. “It will send a clear message that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to work, deterring people from making these dangerous journeys.”

On a recent episode of the “Triggernometry” podcast, co-host Konstantin Kisin pushed back on the idea that a digital ID would help stop illegal immigration: “We know that there’s up to a million illegal immigrants in the country, and the government knows who many, if not most, of them are. Not least because a lot of them are staying in hotels and private rentals that we’re all paying for as taxpayers. So, we know exactly who they are and yet, they’re still here. They’re not being removed, and more are coming every day.”

“So, the reason we have an illegal immigration problem is not that we can’t identify them. It’s that we’re not removing them,” he maintained. “The government is lying to you.”

Kisin provided additional examples of why he viewed the U.K. government as untrustworthy as it relates to digital ID. “We have a government that locks people up for tweets, shuts you in your home because there’s a bad flu going around and thinks half the country is ‘far right,’” he warned.

“I remember very well there were people, quite a lot of people, during the pandemic going, ‘Well, if you have not been vaccinated, you shouldn’t be allowed into a hospital, you shouldn’t be allowed this, you shouldn’t be allowed that.’ I do not want to give that power to a government that has consistently proven, and not just this government, but an entire political class that has consistently proven itself not only untrustworthy but authoritarian every time there’s been an opportunity for them to be authoritarian.” 

The Labour government likened the proposed digital ID to the National Health Service app or contactless mobile payments. It vowed to hold a public consultation where it will listen to “a range of views on how the service will be delivered” and “ensure that it works for those who aren’t able to use a smartphone, with inclusion at the heart of its design.”

While the U.K. government is promoting the digital IDs as a matter of convenience and an effort to crack down on illegal immigration, Kisin is not the only opponent of the effort to allege more sinister motives.

A petition before the U.K. Parliament titled “Do not introduce digital ID cards” has accumulated more than 2.8 million signatures as of Monday afternoon. “We think this would be a step towards mass surveillance and digital control, and that no one should be forced to register with a state-controlled ID system,” the petition states. 

The Labour government has responded to the petition, reiterating its assurance that digital IDs will benefit Britons by reducing bureaucracy and illegal immigration.

Responding to the concerns laid out in the petition, the U.K. government insisted that “It will not be compulsory to obtain a digital ID but it will be mandatory for some applications.” 

According to the Labour government, “It will not be a criminal offence to not hold a digital ID and police will not be able to demand to see a digital ID as part of a ‘stop and search.’ Privacy and security will also be central to the digital ID program.” 

“We will follow data protection law and best practice in creating a system which people can rightly put their trust in,” the government vowed. “People in the U.K. 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.” 

While the U.K. government appears to have rejected calls to abandon the implementation of digital IDs, a major protest is scheduled to take place in London on Oct. 18. The Mass Non-Compliance campaign, which is spearheading the protest, has assembled a “fact vault” detailing its concerns about digital ID. 

“The dangers stack: central points of failure (easy targets for hackers), mission creep (from right-to-work checks to benefits, health records, and travel), exclusion (those without smartphones or stable digital access left behind), and commercial capture (private firms getting monopoly control over public functions),” the “fact vault” warns.

A report compiled by the advocacy organization Big Brother Watch expressed concern that a “digital ID system designed with a single unique identifier that records every interaction with public services and private companies risks creating an Orwellian database state, in which our sensitive data can be mined for insights.”  

“The calls for AI-enhanced digital ID that permits expansive profiling, surveillance and tracking in order to pre-empt behavior and justify interventions, undermine democratic norms and fundamental rights. Rather than empowering the citizen, at best, these types of digital ID systems help the state to administer itself,” the report maintains. 

The concerns about the use of digital ID cards in the U.K. to “police dissent” come at a time when the U.S. State Department has warned that “the human rights situation worsened in the U.K. during the last year,” specifically highlighting “restrictions on political speech deemed ‘hateful’ or ‘offensive,'" including speech outside abortion clinics, even silent prayer outside or within one's own home.