Every adult in the UK will soon be required to have a digital ‘Brit-card’ ID

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to announce that all working adults in the UK will be required to have a government-issued digital ID card.

New plans, which Starmer will unveil tomorrow, are hoped to help tackle levels of illegal immigration and make it easier to identify if a person can live and work in the UK – whether a citizen or those on visas.

The so-called ‘Brit-card’ would be shown when starting a new job, and would be checked in a large database of people entitled to work in the UK.

Earlier this month, home secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘I think that a system of digital ID can also help with illegal working and the enforcement of other laws as well. I do think that has a role to play in dealing with our migration.

It appears the digital ID will indeed be mandatory for any working adult in the United Kingdom.

Their driving licence would also be on the app, with hopes that the app could be used to order a passport, access NHS services or display your National Insurance number.

It could help curb visa overstayers, with 63,000 non-EU nationals recorded as not leaving the country before their documents expired in the four years to March 2020, or fewer than 4%.

Britain is the only country in Europe without an ID card, with those in the EU able to travel around the bloc with one instead of a passport.

Sir Tony Blair attempted to introduce compulsory ID cards in 2006 after the September 11 and 7/7 bombings, only for it to be scrapped.

Labour Together estimated it would cost £400million to build the e-ID system and £10million to run the free-to-use phone app.

Are the IDs safe?
Privacy groups have long criticised the idea, with Big Brother Watch telling Metro today that mandatory digital ID cards are ‘dystopian’.

Akiko Hart, the director of the human rights charity Liberty, told Metro that digital ID likely won’t do what the government hopes.

‘The evidence from countries with established digital ID systems shows it won’t reduce irregular migration,’ Hart said,

‘But it will create a host of human rights issues. The Government should not pursue a policy that not only won’t achieve its goals, but will lead to discrimination and exclusion in the process.’

Hart said that tying digital IDs to employment or housing will marginalise more vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or people in poverty.

Any system should be designed with the purpose of helping people to access vital services like healthcare or proving our identity more easily – not creating barriers or shutting people out,’ Hart added.

How does the public feel?
While 54% told YouGov in 2023 that they back mandatory identity cards, most people in the UK haven’t been keen on Starmer’s plans.

Two in three have concerns regarding the security of their personal data as part of a national digital ID scheme, a poll by YouGov, commissioned by Big Brother Watch, found this month.