To Digital ID or Not to Digital ID?

Above, my mother’s ID card from back in the day. House points to any Puffin who can tell us when, where and why.

The prime ministerial launch

Meanwhile, decades later and across the waters, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer unveiled plans to introduce a mandatory digital ID (a “BritCard”) in the UK, to be required for anyone seeking legal employment by the end of the current Parliament in 2029. The identity would be stored in an electronic wallet on smartphones (or via alternative means for those without the technology) and would verify identity and residency status.

Sir Kier says this will simplify access to public services, tighten controls on illegal work, and make the immigration system fairer. In other words, a potential cure-all to be used in response to any awkward question. However, the proposal attracted sharp criticism, including from civil liberties groups and cybersecurity experts who warn of privacy risks, excessive state oversight, and creating a large, vulnerable data target. At the time of writing, a UK Government Parliament petition entitled Do Not Introduce Digital ID Cards boasts an impressive 2.6 million signatures.

Mr Starmer added detail to his plan during a speech at the Global Progressive Action Summit the following day. The conference took place in central London and was co‑hosted by Labour Together, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Left wing leaders, policy experts and strategists from over twenty countries attended. The themes included national security, economic growth for working people, migration under worldwide displacement pressures, and building ‘fairer’ societies anchored in ‘solidarity and reciprocity’. In other words, individual freedom destroying globalism.

Among the key speakers were Rachel Reeves, David Lammy, John Healey (UK Defence Minister), Magdalena Andersson (Swedish opposition leader), Anas Sarwar and Pete Buttigieg (Biden’s one time Secretary of State for Transportation). There were sessions focused on renewing the social contract, democratic trust, and confronting populism. Besides organising the global progressive action summit, Labour Together were also responsible for the paper on which Starmer’s ​ID plan is based, entitled BritCard: a progressive digital identity for Britain.

The Labour Together influence

Labour Together is a think tank at the heart of the Labour Party which produces policy proposals, research, and ideas. Their Britcard publication​ calls for a mandatory, universal digital identity credential issued to all those who have the right to live or work in the UK. The credential would be downloaded to a smartphone, usable by landlords, employers, and public services, with verification via a free app. Labour Together argues that the system would help with right‑to‑work and right‑to‑rent checks, reduce identity exclusion, strengthen migration enforcement (to prevent illegal working), improve public service efficiency, and simplify interactions with government for residents.

At the moment Labour Together is embroiled in an undisclosed donations scandal. Martin Taylor, a hedge fund manager who made his money investing in post-Cold War Russia, is its largest donor. He’s given over £2 million since the start of 2023. Gary Lubner, a businessman (who runs Belron, parent company of Autoglass, the vehicle‑glass repair/replacement company), has donated more than £600,000 since 2023. Trevor Chinn, a businessman and philanthropist who made his money through Lex garages, has also given substantial amounts (several hundreds of thousands). Lord David Sainsbury (of the Sainsbury supermarket family) and his daughter, Francesca Sainsbury Perrin, are also donors.

Kier Starmer’s current Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, was involved in Labour Together even before Starmer’s rise to leadership. He helped build the organisation as a base for new policy thinking and strategic coordination, but also as a power centre. When Starmer launched his leadership campaign in 2019, McSweeney ran it, drawing on the Labour Together network for resources, messaging, and donor connections. After Starmer’s victory, McSweeney moved into the heart of the Labour leadership by serving as campaign director and later chief of staff. Labour Together continues to serve as an intellectual and organisational springboard for many of the changes enacted under Starmer’s leadership.

The cold hand of Blair

If Puffins suspect the whole thing sounds like the kind of thing Blair might do, they could have a point. Labour Together’s “Meet the Team” page lists members of its advisory board; one is Sarah Hunter, who states she was once Tony Blair’s Senior Policy Adviser on Culture, Media and Sport. One of the three authors of Britcard is Kirsty Innes, Labour Together’s Director of Technology. According to ‘Britcards’ introductory paragraphs, Kirsty spent the first part of her career in the Civil Service, working on a range of economic and foreign policy issues in the Treasury, Foreign Office and Cabinet Office. In 2019, she joined the Tony Blair Institute, where her work focused on applying technology to deliver ‘radically better public services’.

The other two authors, Laurel Boxal and Morgan Wild are policy rather than programming or development experts, with Laurel ominously specialising in public attitudes to technology and AI strategy and digital information. The 30 page pamphlet also begins ominously by claiming, ‘For a progressive society to work, it needs to be able to collectively agree who is allowed to join it. Because it will exclude those who cannot join it, it needs to give its members proof that they belong.’

It also states this system would deliver benefits in terms of greater efficiency and better outcomes in public services as well as being a driver of growth by building on the existing One Login and Gov.UK Wallet. The cat escapes from the bag altogether in section 1.8 entitled ‘How BritCard could lay the foundations for a fully-functioning digital identity ecosystem for the UK’. In other words, a much broader digital reach than the employment and immigration Trojan Horse highlighted by Starmer.

Why the deceit? Because of Labour Together’s polling. The report continues, ‘Our polling suggests it would be immensely popular; around 80% of the public support use of digital identity for a range of use cases.’ It was this 80% figure which, disgracefully, Fiona Bruce used without crediting Labour Together on the September 25th edition of Question Time. A show of hands in the QT audience suggested, despite Labour Together and the BBC’s wishful thinking, 90% of the audience were against.

The 80% figure comes from the old trick of regurgitating only the parts of public opinion research which fit the agenda, in this case, regarding voters’ concern over immigration and employment. The pamphlet also recommends that it should be made clear that digital identity is a ‘top Prime Ministerial priority’ through a high-profile launch. This is what Starmer took part in on September 25th, aided by a high-profile question one headlining on QT and the follow-up at the next day’s conference of progressives.

Laughingly, the report also promises to learn the lessons from other ‘successful rapid tech delivery projects’ such as the (unsuccessful) NHS App, COVID Pass, EU Settled Status Scheme and Universal Credit.

Digital cronyism

Speaking of the Blairs, might they and their cronies benefit from a giant IT project? A companion piece on the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change website is entitled Time for Digital ID: A new consensus for a state that works. One of their recommendations is to ‘assemble a crack team of technologists, policymakers and user researchers, working under the direct supervision of a dedicated Digital-ID Delivery Unit backed by the prime minister’s authority.’ Perhaps including Tony’s son Euan and a chap called Larry Ellison?

Son Euan Blair co‑founded Multiverse in 2016, a tech‑focused apprenticeship startup that connects school‑leavers or people looking to reskill with employers, offering on‑the‑job training focusing on digital and technology roles. The company uses algorithmic matching/tech tools to match apprentices to roles based not just on traditional academic metrics but also aptitude, attitude, and skills. Blair Jr’s vision emphasises using tech not just as a tool but to reform how education and skills training are delivered: making apprenticeships more accessible, more targeted, more suited to an ever-changing technological job market. And in doing so, ticking may boxes for the employment element of compulsory digital ID.

As for The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, this is funded through a combination of private donations, philanthropic contributions, and government contracts. It receives significant funding, including large donations from wealthy individuals and foundations. The institute also engages in paid advisory work for governments, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. For example, it received around £9 million from the Saudi government to support work on governance and modernisation projects. While the institute positions itself as non-profit and focused on policy and governance reform, some of its funding sources — especially from authoritarian regimes — have drawn criticism and raised questions about influence and transparency.

Despite never publishing a list of donors, it is known, in recent years, the Larry Ellison Foundation — established by the founder of Oracle — has pledged a staggering £257 million. It is also known that Blair has been lobbying Business Secretary Peter Kyle to consult a technology institute founded by his friend Ellison, the world’s second richest man. Ellison is also the founder of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), a research centre in Oxford, and is chairman of tech giant Oracle, which has a £700 million IT deal with Whitehall. According to the Daily Mail, experts say Oracle is now in pole position to profit from plans to force millions of adults to sign up for a digital ID card.

A warning from the East

On Thursday 25th September’s BBC Question Time, the hapless Lisa Nandy was wheeled out to umm and ahh her way through the numerous holes in the scheme pointed out by the other panellists and audience members. One ray of light for her came from an audience member who’d been to Estonia and was impressed by their e-ID. However, it’s worth pointing out that Estonia has a population of only 1.3 million – a third of whom live in one city (Tallinn). According to the guff, Estonia’s digital ID system is a foundational part of its e-government infrastructure and offers digital identity and authentication to all citizens and residents.

Each person is issued a mandatory ID card containing a chip that enables digital authentication and legally binding digital signatures. This card allows access to over 99% of public services online, including banking, healthcare, tax filing, and prescription services. Users authenticate themselves using two PINs — one for logging in and one for signing documents. The system is backed by a data infrastructure called X-Road, which claims to ensure security, privacy, and transparency across services, including Estonia’s digital voting system.

Called i-Voting, this allows citizens to cast their votes online during elections. Voters authenticate themselves using their digital ID card and PINs to access the voting platform to select their preferred candidates or parties. In this country, where those who don’t trust the booth pencil take outsized Sharpie pens to the polling station, why does the elite think we would have faith in a digital system?

Previously

Identity cards have been tried here before. The first large-scale use came in World War I, when the National Registration Act of 1915 introduced identity cards to help with military conscription and rationing. Scrapped after the war, they were reintroduced in World War II under the National Registration Act of 1939 for similar reasons. Post-war, the cards were abolished in 1952 amid public resistance and concerns about government overreach.

More recently, the Identity Cards Act of 2006 made provision for a national scheme of registration of individuals, not only as a national identity card but also as a European Economic Area travel document. It also created a resident registry database called the National Identity Register.

A New Labour bright idea, the act was repealed in 2011 by Mr Cameron’s incoming Tory Government with only about 15,000 cards having been issued. However, following the end of 14 years of (disappointing) Conservative administrations, identity cards are back on the agenda with the Blairs, their cronies and the globalist progressives being back in the ascendancy.
 

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