Mixed feelings on Labour's plan for mandatory digital ID | Letters

"The proposal for compulsory digital ID cards strikes at the heart of what it means to be British (Starmer to unveil digital ID cards in plan set to ignite civil liberties row, 25 September). Our unwritten constitution rests on the hard-won principle that we are citizens, not subjects of the government. Free people who are not required to carry papers at the demand of authority an authority that is our servant, not our master."

"That distinction is not a quibble of law but a line in the sand it defines the relationship between people and power. Britain has long stood apart from continental traditions of state surveillance. The freedom to go about one's business without having to show papers has always been more than a convenience; it is a quiet assertion of dignity, liberty and trust in the people. To surrender that would not be a mere technical change, but a constitutional rupture."

"Your report says Tony Blair's plans for ID cards were abandoned in the 2000s this is not quite right. The Identity Cards Act received royal assent in 2006. Steps were then taken to implement it, including issuing cards (I used mine instead of a passport on various occasions). Jacqui Smith, the then home secretary, announced in 2008 that by 2014-15, 90% of all foreign nationals in the country would have been issued with a card."

The proposal for compulsory digital ID cards would impose a legal obligation to carry state-issued identification, altering the relationship between citizens and government. The UK's unwritten constitutional tradition distinguishes between being asked for identification and being compelled to produce papers. Mandatory ID would move Britain closer to continental models of state surveillance and undermine freedoms to go about daily life without proving identity. The change would represent a constitutional rupture, affecting dignity, liberty and public trust. Historical experience shows ID legislation was enacted in 2006 and later repealed in 2010, and there is now intent to re-establish a modernised digital ID system.

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