Starmer’s digital ID cards won’t work and will be costly, voters say

The public is ‘overwhelmingly opposed’ to Sir Keir Starmer’s mandatory digital identity plan, new research suggests.

Focus groups carried out by pollster Lord Ashcroft found voters ‘from all political backgrounds’ opposed the policy announced by the Prime Minister last month.

Interviews with more than 60 people in Sheffield, Bradford, Peterborough and Northampton found they believed Digital ID would be ineffective, costly, pose a hacking risk and be used to control behaviour.

They challenged the Government’s original justification for the policy – that right-to-work checks would help combat illegal immigration – because unscrupulous employers continued to ignore the rules.

One focus group participant asked: ‘Can you see that the guys at the car wash have digital IDs? The people who run them won’t ask for a digital ID anyway. They don’t care.’

Others thought the Government would ‘charge’ for Digital ID and questioned what the system would mean for ‘elderly people’ who ‘don’t have a smartphone’.

Many ministers believed they were hiding their true intentions by claiming that ‘it’s about having more control’ and that ‘they will want to know what you spend, who you spend it with, how much you get paid’.

One person compared it to the Covid passport, where Britons have to prove they have been vaccinated to travel abroad or enter some venues, while another said it would be similar to the system in China where automatic fines are imposed for misdemeanors.

Protesters march against the UK Government’s plan to introduce digital ID cards in central London, United Kingdom on October 18, 2025

There were also widespread fears that Digital Identity could be subject to breaches that the Government could not prevent.

One interviewee said: ‘Your driving licence, your passport, your bank record, they’re all in separate places. This means putting it all in one pot.’

Another pointed out major cyber attacks on Jaguar Land Rover and the NHS and asked: ‘Do we expect the government to protect all this now?’

It comes as Britain’s data watchdog assured MPs it would monitor the rollout of Digital ID.

Information Commissioner John Edwards told worried members of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee: ‘You can be assured that the ICO will be there and will be there to inform these elections, avoiding the dystopian outcome that you are rightly worried about.’

Asked whether citizens have the right not to be included in digital data, he replied: ‘The UK is probably the second most monitored country in the world. I can’t avoid changing my digital identity dozens of times a day while doing my job.

‘These days you can try paying in cash, taking the bus and paying in cash. I really don’t know how you managed to do this.

Asked how the government could demonstrate its competence in keeping people’s identities safe, Mr Edwards said: ‘I think that is absolutely critical to the success of a scheme like this.

‘You can legislate anything you want, but these systems don’t work unless people trust them.’