Digital ID plans are “frankly creepy”, a Conservative shadow minister has warned, as he called for “evidence” that a new system will help crack down on illegal working.
Shadow science minister Viscount Camrose warned that the Government’s argument for rolling out a digital ID system was “too optimistic to be convincing”.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told MPs earlier this week that the plan was “about giving people greater agency over their lives”.
She said these digital identity cards meant data was “much less likely to be lost or stolen”, and added that a pub punter might be “able to prove you’re over 18 without even showing your exact birthday”, with privacy “hardwired into the system from the start”.
Ms Kendall also said the scheme would “deliver greater fairness by showing exactly who has the right to work here in the UK”.
Responding in the Lords, Viscount Camrose said: “If allowed to become legislation, the electorate risks being subject to an extraordinary expansion of state power, one that comes not only at the expense of personal freedom, but at great cost to the taxpayer.”
He called for “evidence” that digital IDs would meet the Government’s objectives, and added: “Criminal gangs and illegal workers already operate outside formal employment and taxation systems.
“They don’t care about paperwork or credentials. They work illegally beyond the reach of existing regulation.
“They subvert existing national insurance requirements.
“So, why would we expect digital ID to be different?”
The viscount told peers the scheme was “untested”, with the Government’s view “too optimistic to be convincing”.
He added that the proposal was “vast in its objectives, slight in its detail, and frankly creepy in its reach into our privacy”.
Viscount Camrose said: “Better online services do not require a centralised identity regime.
“We already have mechanisms such as right-to-work checks and DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) verification.”
Liberal Democrat science spokesman Lord Clement-Jones described the early-stage plans as “another fundamental error by this Government”.
He added: “The core issue here is not technology, but freedom.”
But Lord Patrick Vallance defended the plans, arguing that digital ID would be mandatory “only for right-to-work checks”.
He said this was a “very narrow use for a very specific purpose”.
Lord Vallance, the former government chief scientific adviser and now science minister, continued: “But we have always believed and continue to believe that there are huge upsides to a digitally enabled society, one where everyone feels able to participate, everyone feels a sense of agency, and everyone’s lives are made easier by a digital key that does indeed unlock access to services.”
The Labour peer also said: “In countries where digital ID is well established, the private sector has built a wide range of services around it, making everyday tasks like open banking, renting a flat, applying for a mortgage all faster, simpler and more secure.
“But that is not a mandatory use of this – the required use is for right to work.”
