Call for council to oppose digital ID plans

Two Tory councillors in Newport have called upon the local authority to oppose the UK Government’s digital ID plans.

Cllrs Ray Mogford and Will Routley claim the policy has “adverse potential” and raises “significant privacy and civil liberties concerns”.

When it announced the digital ID plans in September, Downing Street said the policy would tackle illegal working and make it easier for people to use government services.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called digital ID “an enormous opportunity for the UK”.

“It will make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure,” he said at the time. “It will also offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly – rather than hunting around for an old utility bill.”

But Cllrs Mogford and Routley, who represent the Bishton and Langstone ward, fear the policy will “result in an estimated £4.6 billion of taxpayers’ money being wasted on a massive IT project, with no clear benefit or safeguards”.

In their notice of motion, which will be debated at a city council meeting on Tuesday November 25, they claimed digital ID had the potential to “risk criminalising millions of people” if it was made mandatory for public services.

They also alleged the UK Government’s plans would “do nothing to address the real priorities facing communities” – such as the cost-of-living crisis.

If the pair win a majority of support in the council chamber, their motion will ask the local authority’s leader to write to the home secretary, calling for digital ID plans to be scrapped.

The government states digital ID will be “mandatory as a means of proving your right to work” and will “send a clear message that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to work”.

The roll-out of phone-based IDs will also “in time make it simpler to apply for services like driving licences, childcare and welfare, while streamlining access to tax records”, the government said.

However, the plans have proved contentious, with nearly three million people signing a petition urging the government to not introduce digital ID cards.

Parliament is due to debate that petition on Monday December 8.