Digital IDs Announced in the UK - Everyone is Outraged

Am I missing something?

Prime Minister Starmer has announced that digital IDs will become mandatory for employment 'right to work' checks. The French government has claimed that the lack of these checks is a key factor in encouraging irregular migration into the UK via France. This is unlikely, since France has universal ID cards, yet has a similar sized undocumented worker percentage as the UK. So what is going on?

Labour has tried to introduce ID cards in the past, under Gordon Brown and then later with Tony Blair as PMs, but it failed each time after an outcry. The British, despite knowing that the entire EU has had ID cards without problems for decades, think that it will result in the loss of essential freedoms. Which freedoms? No one is really sure of that, but they are really upset! Perhaps they might be asked to prove their identity when starting a job (I had to show my passport) or when going to the pub (most young people buy driving licences for this purpose).

Perhaps they are worried about being stopped by the police? Lots of objections use the scary phrase "My I see your papers?" which is a bald, and rather racist, reference to wartime Germany. But police have always been able to request drivers show their driving licence, without the population thinking their freedoms were being restricted. In this case, you still don't need to carry your licence - you normally have a week to present your ID to a police station. So many youngsters and older people already carry their driving licence for ID purposes, but they don't fear that carrying it will become mandatory when driving or otherwise.

What about the data? The government press release says the ID will not need to be shown on demand, and will have no more data than is already held on the driver's licence or passport data base. A well designed Digital ID (yeah, I know, this is not guaranteed) could even help to preserve data. At the moment, web services with adult content are requiring users to prove their ID to show they are over 18 years old to ID verification services run by pornographers. A Digital ID service could prove adulthood without revealing any identity details beyond that. The government's identity validation principles already describe the standards to be met by such a service. Why this wasn't used for web age gates is a mystery.

If the ID is held on a smart phone, than won't it exclude older people or children? The published plans make clear it is not a compulsory system, except for applying for a job. If you are not planning to work, then you can carry on as you are already without applying for this ID system. But of course, there will have to be non-phone based alternatives. I don't expect any app will work on my rooted smart phone, so I'll be needing a physical card or a web service. That'd be perfectly fine. I already have to use the online Criminal Records Checking Service for job applications in my employment sector. Data is shared securely online. No worries.

Asylum seekers already have digital ID and it has been a terrible roll out, causing all sorts of problems for vulnerable people. It won't help with illegal working, since lawfully operating employers already need to carry out entitlement to work check on all new hires. No-one is going to have to carry it to present on demand, as children and retired people may well not be registered with the service, and the government has ruled that out anyway. There will be no extra data collected by the government if you have a national insurance number, driving licence or passport, or have ever needed a criminal records check by working with children. Except it will indicate a right to work.

So what is all the worry really about? That Britons cannot be trusted with a digital ID system when nearly every other European country handles a universal ID system without issue?