There are some 3 million compelling reasons for Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to roll out a national system of mandatory digital identity cards.
That’s the number of signatures on a monster online parliamentary petition opposing his plan — announced in late September — even before an official consultation could begin. On a recent trip to India, Starmer pointed to that country's vast digital ID system as a "massive success,” taking in a visit to Infosys, one of the biggest providers of its architecture.
Back home, the opposition is plainly formidable. But what of the benefits? Many countries with strong traditions of civil liberties have ID cards. For governments like the U.K.’s, the blend of existing digital technology and the introduction of artificial intelligence holds out the promise of creating an efficient e-government of joined-up public services — and with it the eradication of tedious form filling and rifling through drawers for bank statements to prove who we are.
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