Digital ID cards

Why does the UK not have ID cards?

The UK has had mandatory ID cards when the country has been at war. ID cards were introduced in the First World War to aid with conscription and abolished afterwards in 1919. They were reintroduced in September 1939 shortly after the start of the Second World War and were used to help with national service, national security and food rationing. They were abolished in 1952 after criticism of how they were increasingly being used for more general purposes such as law enforcement – which was coupled with a widespread sentiment that compulsory ID cards were acceptable in continental Europe but fundamentally at variance with British values and civil liberties. One of the lessons of past experience is that public acceptance of ID cards depends on them having a clear purpose and being linked into a needed use. ⁴³ https://historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/identity-cards-in-britain-past-experience-and-policy-implications/

What are the options for identity cards?

There is no single form of identity card, nor unique regime.  The big choices facing any government debating introducing identity cards are:

• Compulsory or voluntary? The former is more helpful for enforcement activities – the latter is simply an easier way for citizens to prove their identity.
• Mandatory carrying or not? Some countries require people to carry ID cards all the time – others do not.
• Physical or digital? In the past, the assumption was that ID cards would be physical documents. But the Home Office has already moved to digital proof of status for EU citizens with settled or pre-settled status which they argue is more secure and less easy to forge. However, these digital only schemes have proved unpopular with those using them if/when they have difficult accessing their proof of ID or the system does not generate the correct result.
• How much information the cards hold (for example, whether to link to medical records).
• Where data is held (in Germany the registers are held at Land not Federal level).
• Whether and how much to charge (which is linked to whether they are compulsory or simply available to people who want them).
• Who is required to register?

When did ID cards come back onto the political agenda in the UK?

ID cards resurfaced onto the political agenda in the 1990s. The Major government consulted on ID cards in 1995, and a Home Affairs Select Committee report saw potential benefits in making it easier for people to establish their identity but recommended against a compulsory ID card. They proposed a beefed-up version of photocard driving licences as the basis of the new system – but although the government planned legislation it was never published before the 1997 election.

The issue then lay dormant in Tony Blair’s first term. But in 2002 the Home Office published proposals for a voluntary “entitlement card”. However, after consultation and a further lapse of time, the government produced proposals in 2004 that envisaged a first step voluntary scheme, but including a power that could be used after another parliamentary vote to make registration compulsory.

The government set out its objectives for the scheme in evidence to a HASC inquiry:

• tackling illegal working and immigration abuse
• disrupting the use of false and multiple identities by organised criminals and those involved in terrorist activity
• helping protect people from identity fraud and theft
• ensuring free public services are only used by those entitled to them
• enabling easier and more convenient access to public services. ⁴⁴ https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmhaff/130/130.pdf

This showed how far the government had moved from a focus on making life simpler for citizens to using ID cards as a tool for immigration and law enforcement. 

The legislation finally got onto the statute book – after pre-legislative scrutiny – as the Identity Cards Act (2006). ⁴⁵ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/15/contents  Implementation started in 2008 with a pilot in Greater Manchester airport, though this was abandoned when there was opposition and a move from paper to digital ID for foreign nationals. There was also a limited roll out  to younger people. By May 2010, 15000 ID cards were in circulation. ⁴⁶ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10164331

Why did the coalition government scrap ID cards?

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat parties had expressed objections – around privacy and expense – to ID cards for UK citizens before forming the coalition government in 2010, though cards continued as biometric residence permits for foreign migrants. 

The 2010 Conservative manifesto was clear on its opposition to ID cards: “Labour’s approach to our personal privacy is the worst of all worlds – intrusive, ineffective and enormously expensive. We will scrap ID cards, the National Identity Register and the Contactpoint database.” ⁵⁵ https://conservativehome.blogs.com/files/conservative-manifesto-2010.pdf

The Liberal Democrats were similarly opposed, saying they would: “Scrap intrusive Identity Cards and have more police instead, and also scrap plans for expensive, unnecessary new passports with additional biometric data”. ⁵⁶ https://www.markpack.org.uk/files/2015/01/Liberal-Democrat-manifesto-2010.pdf  The coalition’s programme for government therefore promised: “We will scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity register and the ContactPoint database, and halt the next generation of biometric passports.” ⁵⁷ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a78cf29ed915d0422065824/coalition_programme_for_government.pdf

The Identity Documents Act 2010 ⁵⁸ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/40/crossheading/repeal-of-identity-cards-act-2006  repealed the 2006 Act, scrapped the database and cancelled ID cards that had been issued. It was estimated that the scheme had thus far cost £4.6bn. 

Why are ID cards back on the agenda?

Since 2023 Tony Blair, sometimes in alliance with former Conservative leader William Hague, has been using his think tank to push the case for a much wider public embrace of the possibilities of digital including a new digital ID card. They argue that this would bring a wide range of benefits, replacing the number of ad hoc forms of proof and identification that individuals now have to provide, enabling more personalisation and better targeting of public services and allowing needs to be anticipated. They see this as one route to reduce administrative burdens and yield savings. ⁵⁹ https://institute.global/insights/politics-and-governance/new-national-purpose-innovation-can-power-future-britain  In subsequent interventions Blair has argued that digital ID would enable transformation of public services which would reduce the appeal of populism. ⁶⁰ https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tony-blair-use-tech-tough-populism-crime-justice-commission-v58gsvndl  

Picking up that theme, Labour backbenchers have called for digital ID cards both to streamline interactions with the state but also to allow better enforcement against illegal working. ⁶¹ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/08/labour-mps-launch-campaign-to-introduce-digital-ids  

Labour Together has also produced a proposal for a mandatory “Britcard” as a “progressive digital identity”, which they claim “would support better enforcement of migration rules, and protect vulnerable British citizens from being wrongly denied their rights.” A Britcard, argues Labour Together, “could end identity exclusion, resolving uncertainty and risk for those whose status is uncertain, and providing a quick, secure, privacy-preserving means for everyone to verify their identity and their migration status when dealing with government, when taking up a new job, or taking on property.” ⁶² https://www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/britcard

Would ID cards make it easier to control irregular migration?

The absence of a national identity system is often cited as one of the pull factors attracting migrants to the UK. Advocates of a system claim that this would give rogue employers no excuse and ease labour market enforcement and so reduce the ability of people to work. But employers are already supposed to check right-to-work status of anyone they employ and it is not clear how far this would act as an additional barrier to illegal work. The government is already working with food delivery groups to try to crack down on illegal work by asylum seekers, ⁷⁰ https://www.itv.com/news/2025-07-22/government-to-share-data-with-food-delivery-firms-in-illegal-working-crackdown  but labour market enforcement in the UK has historically been very under-resourced. The government’s Employment Rights Bill will bring together three current enforcement agencies into a single Fair Work Agency. ⁷¹ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68779e282bad77c3dae4dc79/uk-labour-market-enforcement-strategy_2025-26-accessible.pdf

What is the government now proposing?

The prime minister announced a plan for digital ID cards to prove the right to work at the Global Progressive Summit in late September. ⁷² Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP, New digital ID scheme to be rolled out across UK, GOV.UK, 26 September 2025, press release, www.gov.uk/government/news/new-digital-id-scheme-to-be-rolled-out-across-uk  The initial proposal was for a digital ID card which would be required to prove the right to work and which the prime minister argued would help tackle illegal migration. But there was a big public and political backlash against the idea with an e-petition opposing the idea being signed by just under three million people.  ⁷³ https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194  The proposal the government is now putting forward is quite different – it is emphasising that this will make accessing government services much easier presenting one front door to government; it will not be mandatory – Darren Jones MP confirmed that the legislation would make that clear.  The government hopes that people will find it useful and therefore take it up. 

The government is now consulting on the proposals.  ⁷⁴ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-consultation-on-making-public-services-quicker-easier-and-more-secure-to-access-with-digital-id  As part of a two-stage consultation it also plans to convene a People’s Panel’ – a form of deliberative public engagement similar to a citizens’ assembly – to further test the public’s views on on the plan. 

What do opposition parties think?

The change in direction on the question of mandating has defused some of the concerns that opposition parties had – but have lead some to question what the value of the proposal is.  Other concerns remain about privacy and data security, as well as cost.  ⁷⁵ https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-03-10/debates/3F57FDEF-F6B4-4BBA-B058-C360D5A9EA21/DigitalIDPublicConsultation  There have reportedly been splits in the Cabinet over links to health and education data.  ⁷⁶ https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-digital-id-cabinet-hkcgc6qpl?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdxZRhLkl-0QpYOH-s_UJL55d73Ki0uF4eRXkJ6…