It would be putting it mildly to say Sir Keir Starmer’s digital ID card plans have gone down like a lead balloon. The Prime Minister’s proposals to make ID cards compulsory for every British adult have raised concerns about freedom, data security and effectiveness – as it isn’t clear the policy would actually work to tackle illegal immigration if it was rolled out. Hardly the best start to conference season…
Some of those criticising Starmer over his policy are – surprise surprise – Scottish nationalists. SNP First Minister John Swinney took to Twitter to rage:
I am opposed to mandatory digital ID – people should be able to go about their daily lives without such infringements. That aside, by calling it BritCard, the Prime Minister seems to be attempting to force every Scot to declare ourselves British. I am a Scot.
But Mr S is rather surprised by Honest John’s outburst. After all, he was Deputy First Minister of a government that spent a staggering £7 million on a Scottish Covid vaccine passport app that breached data privacy laws. In fact, at the time, the Information Commissioner’s Office made an uncharacteristically critical ruling, with deputy commissioner Steve Wood raging that the Scottish government and NHS Scotland had ‘failed’ to be ‘upfront with people about how their information was being used’.
The Scottish government also introduced proposals in 2021 to introduce a digital identity service ‘for users to prove who they are and that they are eligible for a service’. The Nats then began working on a digital identity programme of its own, called ScotAccount. Rules for thee but not for me!
More than that, the UK government last night confirmed to Scottish journalists that the new cards would not in fact be referred to as ‘Brit cards’. It would appear the SNP lot didn’t get the memo…
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