" the difference that having an ID card makes"

I think it would be quicker and easier and you wouldn’t have to go through establishing and proving ID every time other than putting in ID card number .

In the Netherlands where we had an ID card we would get reminders from the Town Hall when driving licences, passports etc needed to be renewed.
If we moved to a different area we had to notify them of this and register in the new area.
If we wanted copies of our birth certificate etc we would just ask for it there.

Now we have a pension over there we have to pay a solicitor to verify that here. Over there we would just go to the town hall for proof.

Our local area knew exactly how many people of every nationality lived there.
It is much more bureaucratic but made life easier.
There was no need for a 10 yearly census.

We had no problem with it and would welcome it here.

I meant to say we have to prove to them over there that we are still alive to get our pension. Over there there would be no need.

I have no objection to having an ID card, but if anyone really wants to they will use forgeries.

I don’t mind using an ID card. I don’t drive so don’t have a licence and have a debit but a credit card, that means the only ID I have is a passport and when it expires I doubt I will renew because we don’t travel abroad anymore.

*have a debit card but not a credit card and must explain here, apparently debit cards don’t always count as ID.

We lived in France for twenty years. When I was teaching English to the U3A, they were horrified that there were no ID cards, but thought school uniforms were an infringement of human rights!
ID cards were used when buying or renting homes, registering with doctors, tax offices, hospitals and schools, voting, starting bank accounts and all other official transactions.
We used our passports at first, then registered for Titre de Séjour cards to prove our right to permanent residence; compulsory after Brexit they included fingerprints and facial recognition. That makes forgeries pretty difficult. We got our first ones from the Préfecture, queueing with other migrants, with a dossier of papers. Our French friends got their cards locally at the Town Hall or Mairie.
I was stopped only once in a routine check of papers when driving and had to show my ID.
I have never understood why some people seem to find the concept of ID cards threatening. Now back permanently in the UK I was very pleased to exchange my French licence for a UK one and have easy identification. My husband's disability has meant he can no longer hold a licence, ID is more complicated for him here.

I'm on the fence about ID cards. On one hand, they would make many things easier - I recently wanted to get cash out of the bank, but my passport was expired and I don't have a driving licence, so it was a pain. I ended up transferring the money to my husband's account and he got it with his ID. An ID card might have helped with that, and the ability to do it relied on my having a husband with a separate account who I didn't mind knowing what I was doing - it's not a solution that would work for everyone.

On the other hand, if you look at how easy it was for Jews in Nazi Germany to be rounded up it's enough to show how dangerous centralised information can be in the wrong hands.