Campaigners blast Tony Blair’s ‘retrograde’ plan to impose digital ID cards on all Britons, warning it would create a ‘checkpoint society’ and ‘puts people at risk of identity theft and hacking’

• Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo hit out at the idea of a digital ID
• Downing Street ruled out taking up Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague’s advice

Sir Tony Blair’s idea for every Briton to be issued with a ‘digital ID’ has been blasted as a ‘retrograde’ plan which would put people at risk of identity theft and hacking.

Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo hit out saying ‘we don’t have to live in a kind of checkpoint society’.

Blair was yesterday accused of pushing a ‘creepy’ plan for every Briton to be issued with a ‘digital ID’ as part of a ‘reshaping of the state around technology’. 

The former prime minister joined ex-Tory leader William Hague in calling for the Government to introduce an ID card that people can have on their phones which would hold details such as their passport, driving licence, tax records, qualifications and right to work status.

Raising concerns about the concept, Ms Carlo told Good Morning Britain:  ‘When it comes to digital ID – that means introducing something like a digital rights bill that protects people’s privacy and means that we don’t have to live in a kind of checkpoint society where you have a facial recognition check and a massive database state that records everything about you.

‘And that’s the kind of system that they set out yesterday, which is totally retrograde. 

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Sir Tony highlighted how countries ‘as small as Estonia and as large as India’ are moving towards digital IDs

‘That’s the system that was scrapped in 2010. Blair’s ID cards was the vision of a giant database state where your identity is all in one place.

‘It really puts people at risk of identity theft, hacking and changes the relationship between the citizen and the state. That’s what we’re really worried about.’

Her comments came after Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague urged every citizen should be issued with a ‘digital ID’ as part of a ‘fundamental reshaping of the state around technology’.

The former political rivals said the challenge of adapting to the new technological revolution meant putting party differences to one side.

Their plan would involve a new ID incorporating details such as a passport, driving licence, tax records, qualifications and right to work status which could be stored on a mobile phone.

In a joint article for The Times they said: ‘Politics must change radically because the world is changing radically.

‘We are living through a 21st-century technology revolution as huge in its implications as the 19th-century Industrial Revolution.’

They warned that politicians were in danger of conducting a ’20th century fight at the margins of tax and spending policy’ rather than grappling with the fundamental shifts required in the new era.

‘We both believe the challenge is so urgent, the danger of falling behind so great and the opportunities so exciting that a new sense of national purpose across political dividing lines is needed,’ the former Labour and Tory leaders said.

Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo hit out saying ‘we don’t have to live in a kind of checkpoint society’

Sir Tony Blair has joined ex-Tory leader William Hague in calling for the Government to introduce a digital ID that people can have on their phones

Read more: Tony Blair sparks anger with ‘creepy’ plan for every Briton to be issued with a ‘digital ID’ 

The pair suggested a shake-up of Whitehall ‘including digital ID for every citizen, a national health infrastructure that uses data to improve care and keep costs down, and sovereign AI systems backed by supercomputing capabilities’.

The Times reported the pair’s plan, published in a report with more than 40 recommendations, included:

• Limiting the Treasury’s power to manage science and technology investment.
• Appointing ‘executive ministers’ from outside Parliament to rewire Whitehall’s approach to science and technology.
• Using AI to help teachers in schools and provide personalised support to pupils at home.
• Offering tax breaks to stimulate pension fund investment in UK start-ups.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Sir Tony highlighted how countries ‘as small as Estonia and as large as India’ are moving towards digital IDs.

‘If you look at the biometric technology that allows you to do digital ID today, it can overcome many of these problems,’ he added.

Downing Street ruled out taking up Sir Tony and Lord Hague’s advice.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘There are no plans to introduce digital ID. Our position on physical ID remains unchanged.’

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