Digital ID Cards in the UK -- a solution looking for a problem!

 

Starmer wants to make digital IDs compulsory for every working-age person in the UK. 

Anyone would think he has a deal with a tech company that will charge millions to develop, roll out, and maintain this software for the foreseeable future.

The digital ID would:

• include: name, date of birth, nationality or residency status, and a photo
• And it would be on your smartphone.

WHAT NO PLASTIC CARD to put with my card collection?

There's going to be a consultation. Yippy.

You would have to present this digital ID when applying for a job or a rental to show you have a legal right to work and live in the UK.

Starmer said:

 "you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID".

What a load of nonsense. 

When our Prime Minister or MPs come out with stuff like this, it shows how out of touch they are with the real world.

I've never asked my window cleaner for his ID. 

About 1 in 7 people in the UK are self-employed.

People don't need an ID to work as self-employed in various ways; they simply get on with the job, and the customer pays them.

It seems he means that people will need DIGITAL ID if they want to be an employee.

Also, it seems STARMER is so out of touch that he doesn't realise employees already have to give ID to get a job.

Employers demand ID.

You need to give various forms of ID to take a job. 

• You need to provide bank details to receive payment. 
• You need to give your National Insurance number. 
• You also need to provide identification, typically your passport.

Even if you are paid in cash (and so no bank details are taken), your employer still needs to check your ID. 

• Why do employers ask for ID? 

Because it is a longstanding legal requirement for businesses to check and keep records:

• to obtain the identification of their staff 
• and maintain employment records, 
• collect and pay any taxes related to employees, 
• keep records of accidents, 
• and have Employers' Liability insurance. 

AND:

It is already the legal duty of employers to check that employees have the right to work in the UK. 

Since 2022, employers have also been able to carry out checks on passport-holding British and Irish citizens using digital verification services.

It seems Starmer and all his advisors have no experience of working in business with responsibility for employees. It is a shame they don't have anyone who lives in the real world to advise them. Do you think they need some real-world work experience? 

Does anyone know any tool-makers?

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The PM also said:

• It has been "too easy" for people to "slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally"

Well, if this is true, frankly, how is a new ID system going to change that? 

Answer: Not one bit.

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I think my window cleaner is British, and I guess he pays his taxes, but I'm just getting on with my life and enjoy having clean windows.

My point is that the COMPULSORY ID SCHEME doesn't deal with the problems that Starmer claims to be tackling.

If someone doesn't have the right to work here how will the new ID system change anything? Employers already ask for ID. If employers are happy to flout existing laws, how will anything change?

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I'm sure my window cleaner could make a better job as PM than Starmer, he certainly couldn't be worse.

I'm up to my ears in ID and online passwords (that I can't remember) and verification codes. Apparently, HMRC (or is it the Inland Revenue?) says my voice is my password.

I don't need another App, thank you very much, but no thanks.