AB says no ID

ICE through the auspices of Trump would find life a lot easier if they had ID.

Yes I think it was the Netherlands where the register of its people ( detailing religion) facilitated the identification of Jewish people by the nazis.

jakuss

If you have nothing to hide ID is a wonderful idea,

Not necessarily. We don’t know what might happen in the future, or what information cards might contain. If a future government decided to round up people with green eyes, or who were born in Wolverhampton an ID card could make that possible. They aren’t likely to be literal ‘cards’. They are far more likely to be plastic cards with chips that can hold all sorts of personal information. I could be persuaded either way about them, but ‘nothing to hide means nothing to worry about’ never washes with me.

I am in absolute agreement with Cossy

There was a news item yesterday, or the day before, about criminal gangs renting flats and using them as brothels. A landlord was repossessing a flat he owned that he thought he had let to normal letters. When he got into the flat he was appalled by the state it was in. He had discovered when the rent had not been paid that he could not trace the lead tenant as all his identity information was false.

There was a comment that this would be impossible when digital identity came in.

The report discussed the problem of indentifying the people behind this activity as they have multiple identities and forged papers.

The report said how much more difficult it would be for criminals to hide behind false papers if we have identity IDs.

If you have nothing to hide ID is a wonderful idea,

How when the idea hadn't even been costed?

Difficult if you do not drive or hold a passport even to get one of these IDs. Electoral services take bus pass (for which you have had to prove who you are with birth cert, marriage lines and proof of address) but banks still will not.

I have been able to advise ex-service personnel that they can get an ID related to their service/pension which is accepted

I live in The Netherlands and our driving licence is also our ID.

I live in a country (Denmark) where all citizens of eighteen and over must register their legal name and abode in the Citizens' Registry (Folkeregistret) and remember to do so for children living with us and to send in a notification if we move, or change name.

You can request the registry not to give private individuals your address.

Unfortunately, we do not have cards we can use as proof of identity, as German or Austrian or French citizens have. A passport is proof of identity, but of no use when you go to collect a parcel, as it does not have details of your address, Our national health cards do not have a photo, so are legally not proof of identity, nor is a bank card, as they do not have a photo of the holder, either, a driving licence is here, but not in Germany, or many other coutries and not everyone has a driving licence.

So I would be very much in favour of an identity card and of not having to carry different documents around with me, depending on where I am going or what I am intending to do.

I don’t trust that our information can be kept safe. Scammers are getting incredibly good at what they do.
Plus I don’t always have my phone on me.
Further down the line I think it will be used to control us. What we purchase, how much travelling we do, due to net zero.
I’ll just stick with my passport & drivers license thank you.
They could have always done a trial on people landing on how shores. See how that works out.

Might upset his shareholders and his annual bonus will be smaller!

Tuliptree

Mollygo
I’ll try again. The Labour government abandoned the ID scheme in January.

Tuliptree

If you say so - I really can’t be bothered.

That’s OK.

I don't think Starmer abandoned ID cards altogether - he changed from wanting them to be compulsory (so, presumably, free) to voluntary (presumably at a cost to the holders). In other words, he didn't abolish it, he changed the premise of it.

So if Burnham is scrapping the voluntary scheme (as opposed to the compulsory one), he is still abolishing something, but not the original ID card scheme.

I'm not too bothered one way or the other. Like 62Granny, I renewed my passport recently, but just for ID purposes. Health and health insurance costs mean I am unlikely to use it for travel, but these days we need ID, whether we like it or not - bank accounts and all sorts of financial transactions require it, as do applying for things such as bus passes. As I've said before, though, I have reservations about a single database that would allow a future malevolent government to create lists of people in different categories (eg religion, race, sexual orientation etc). Not because I am concerned now, but because we don't know what's round the corner politically.

Mollygo

I’ll try again. The Labour government abandoned the ID scheme in January.

If you say so - I really can’t be bothered

I’ll try again. The Labour government abandoned the ID scheme in January.

Mollygo

Political capital to make -definitely, from *scrapping something that your government had decided to abandon?

It said the government had abandoned the ID scheme in January so are you saying AB has only abandoned the watered down scheme, not the whole ID scheme that the Labour government abandoned in January?
Sounds a bit odd if you are, but scrapping something that’s already been abandoned by the government party you’ve just started to lead is equally odd.

I’ll try again - KS wanted a mandatory ID scheme. As a result of pressure, he then changed it ( watered it down ) to a voluntary ie not mandatory scheme. AB has now decided to scrap this latter version

Political capital to make -definitely, from *scrapping something that your government had decided to abandon?

It said the government had abandoned the ID scheme in January so are you saying AB has only abandoned the watered down scheme, not the whole ID scheme that the Labour government abandoned in January?
Sounds a bit odd if you are, but scrapping something that’s already been abandoned by the government party you’ve just started to lead is equally odd.

Mollygo

AB isn’t waiting. He’s already said it!
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced he is scrapping the government's plans for a national digital ID scheme.

He’s already said it, but he didn’t mention the fact that it had been abandoned in January this year. So presumably it’s just an example of announced non-changes.

Good to know that the money saved by “scrapping” this already abandoned initiative is estimated to free up hundreds of millions of pounds per year.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced he is scrapping the government's plans for a national digital ID scheme.

What KS did earlier in the year was move from a compulsory id scheme It’s this watered down version that AB is apparently cancelling. So there is money ( and political capital ) to save.

I was in favour of digital ID, if it meant I didn't have to pay for it, ( well not too much) I have a driving licence so did by see it as much different tbh, and we both renewed our passports a few years ago purely for ID purposes, although we have never used them due to DH health problems, so if this meant you could stop the extra expense next time I would be ok with that.

AB isn’t waiting. He’s already said it!
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced he is scrapping the government's plans for a national digital ID scheme.

He’s already said it, but he didn’t mention the fact that it had been abandoned in January this year. So presumably it’s just an example of announced non-changes.

Good to know that the money saved by “scrapping” this already abandoned initiative is estimated to free up hundreds of millions of pounds per year.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced he is scrapping the government's plans for a national digital ID scheme.

*held not help!

I simply cannot understand why anyone would object to digital ID?

Except on cost grounds.

Digital intel/info is kept on all of us and has done so for decades. Right back to when debit and credit cards were brought in.

I don’t object to it one iota and think much other data could be help in one place which would benefit almost everyone.

I think discussion re AB are best kept til he’s actually PM and on a dedicated thread, as should the drilling (or not) of oil .

www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/18/burnham-expected-to-reverse-ban-on-new-oil-and-gas-drilling

Interesting article about the short term thinking behind drilling in the North Sea.

I have the highest hopes of AB.
But then I did of Starmer.

Aveline

Nevertheless it's £7 billion more than nothing!

And it’s £7 billion that we can all praise AB for.