Why Britain needs a digital ID system

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To bewilderment elsewhere in Europe, few issues in Britain provoke as much controversy as a national identity system. Opponents have long criticized ID cards as the path to an Orwellian surveillance state. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has already dismissed a suggestion that his Labor government should introduce digital ID cards to control immigration. But as Britain attempts to reform and modernize its deteriorating public services, despite disputes and difficulties, it would make sense to integrate a digital identity system into the plans.

Digital IDs have potential benefits far beyond the old photo ID cards. They typically combine a general digital identifier with personal details and biometric data and can be used to simplify access to public services and conduct transactions with private companies. They can be expanded to store official documents, grades, membership cards and become a digital wallet. Estonia, pioneer of the “electronic state” whose citizens can use electronic IDs for everything from ordering prescriptions to voting, estimates the system saves 2 percent of GDP one year. Other countries like AustraliaSingapore and Italy have established digital identification systems, whether voluntary or mandatory.

A British eID could drive public service reform, helping, for example, to integrate personal medical records and patient data and streamline welfare payments. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a think tank set up by the former prime minister (a longtime proponent of digital ID), estimates such a scheme could boost public finances by around £2bn a year, mainly by reducing benefit fraud and improving tax collection, as well as wider economic gains. Consider a voluntary system, built in part on the government’s existing (but low-profile) foundation. A login An initiative to allow single registration in government services could be established within one legislature and 90 percent of citizens would sign up.

A functional digital ID could avoid searching for documents when opening bank accounts or buying a home, and help prevent identity theft. Proponents argue that a national identity system could also help reduce “small boat” migrants crossing the English Channel. Anecdotal evidence suggests that one of the main attractions of the UK is the perception that the lack of identity documents makes it easier to disappear into the shadow economy than in many European countries. Requiring electronic identification to access benefits and housing could be a disincentive for undocumented immigrants and human trafficking gangs.

There are many reasons to be cautious. Getting the technology right is vital given the sensitivity around data privacy and the dangers of hacking and cyber attacks. Britain has a dismal record on public sector IT – think of the Post Office Horizon scandal. Some Labor experts argue that a digital ID scheme is too complex and politically damaging to add to the challenge of rebuilding services that are already overstretched and cash-starved. Some are marked by the opprobrium that doomed to failure a post-9/11 national identity scheme introduced, in much more favorable economic times, by the Blair government.

But there are many systems working elsewhere that Britain could learn from or copy. Much of public services IT is so outdated that it is worth trying to make the leap to next-generation technology, as Estonia did in the 1990s. Privacy arguments have less force when most adults They happily carry smartphones packed with apps that can track everything from how many steps they take to what color socks they buy.

While the opposition is still vocal, last year’s YouGov poll found that more than half of UK adults supported requiring ID documents. An electronic ID in the UK would require debate and consultation. It wouldn’t be easy. But if Britain really wants a modern state, it is an idea whose time has come.