Keir Starmer’s BritCard backers say they’ve got proof it works – I’ve busted this myth | Politics | News
Supporters of Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial plan to introduce digital ID cards in Britain have praised Estonia’s success in implementing the technology in eastern Europe. Number 10 will secure our borders with mandatory digital ID cards and speed up access to important services. But when I visited Estonia recently, I learned that its borders are secure not thanks to digital ID cards, but thanks to good old-fashioned common sense. In the Estonian border town of Narva, security officials had to deal with thousands of illegal immigrants the Kremlin had sent to Europe as part of a deliberate strategy to destabilize NATO borders.
But it’s not ID cards that Estonia is using to combat this problem. Border guards told us the stark choice they offered young men trying to enter without papers: wait a long time in a cold detention center or return to Russia immediately. Unsurprisingly, almost all of them returned.
In Britain, under Starmer, they would be accommodated in a hotel and given a luxury allowance. While Estonia’s immigration problem is much smaller than ours, it sends back almost all illegal immigrants despite the actions of its aggressive neighbor. This is what Starmer needs to pay attention to.
This is also a lesson for other European Union countries that are all too willing to allow illegal immigrants to cross Europe on their way to the Channel.
Mandatory e-ID, required for voting, banking and accessing medical services, has been a part of daily life in Estonia since 2002. But sacrificing privacy for easier access to public services comes with a price. This is not a trade many Brits would accept.
There are other, more important lessons we can learn from Estonia. During my visit, together with a delegation from different parties, I discovered a country with a proud population who were overwhelmingly ready to stand up and fight for their country. Almost 90 percent of Estonians say they would take up arms to defend their country. Consider the survey in Britain.
While we in Britain may have forgotten the cold realities of Russian autocratic rule that spread over much of Europe three decades ago, Estonians not only remember it, they remind us of it every day.
Across the Narva River that separates freedom from tyranny, the miserable-looking Russian town of Ivangorod is a different world.
With the border mostly closed, dual-national citizens are crossing with empty suitcases used to carry food and other supplies to Russian relatives struggling with empty supermarket shelves.
Estonia will soon spend 5.4 percent of its GDP on defense, and public opinion firmly supports increasing defense spending. With the Russian bear on the doorstep and Ukraine on everyone’s mind, these public attitudes are perhaps not surprising.
Estonia sees dangers that many in the West have blindly neglected for too long. Ukraine may be in the other corner of Europe, but let’s not forget the impact of Russia’s aggression in England.
Putin’s invasion in 2022 has sparked energy and food inflation, pushing up prices for British households and businesses. This is not to mention repeated Russian cyber attacks targeting British companies, utilities and military satellites.
We also saw the Kremlin-ordered chemical weapons attack in Salisbury and the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko on British soil. But Britain was still too slow to understand that Russia only respects power and that increasing defense spending should be a priority today, not tomorrow.
The Prime Minister has pledged to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and 3.5% by 2035. But by the time this happens, it may be too late.
There’s one relatively inexpensive thing the government needs to do quickly: learn the lessons of drone warfare in Ukraine.
Cheap drones now dominate the conflict in Ukraine, with battlefields covered in fiber optic cables used to direct remote bombs. Russia uses Iranian-made drones to launch devastating and indiscriminate attacks against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
A downed drone – the Shahed-136 attack drone, Putin’s weapon of choice – was displayed in Parliament this week. It would only cost the Kremlin between £15,000 and £40,000. But shooting down a target using an F-16 fighter jet missile would cost NATO around £130,000.
Drone technology eliminates asymmetric conflicts. And it’s not just in the air. As Ukraine has shown, maritime drones can render a naval fleet unusable by sinking expensive ships; Ground unmanned aerial vehicles are used to transport ammunition and supplies to the front without endangering the lives of soldiers.
While I don’t share their appetite for ID cards, I believe Britain should embrace Estonia’s spirit. Whether it’s defense spending or border control, they know that national security comes first and are unapologetic about it.
They do not take freedom and democracy for granted, as we often do in Britain.
Louie French is the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup and Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport
