Downing Street looks at issuing UK digital ID cards
Britons may soon be issued personalised ID cards that can be used to book GP appointments, verify ages and store data on immigration status.
The push for the new cards is reportedly a brainchild of Boris Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings as he looks to change the way the government uses data.
The Times reports that the idea to assign unique ID cards came after the government was found to have no information for more than 1m self-employed workers claiming emergency coronavirus support.
Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez told The Times: “There is a need and an expectation for the government to make it easier for people to use digital identities quickly, safely and securely, and we are committed to enabling this.”
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It is likely the plans will be criticised by some groups as an infringement on data privacy, with the Open Rights Group telling The Times that they did not support the creation of UK ID cards.
Open Rights Group’s Matthew Rice said: “If the public don’t trust that their data is going to be secure, they are not going to engage with the system no matter how seamless or frictionless.
“If the government thinks that this is a cool thing to do from their new control centre that Dominic Cummings has created, they will just create another system that doesn’t actually look to the needs of citizens.”
It comes as Cummings yesterday moved Number 10 staff into the adjacent Cabinet Office into a new command centre.
The new lay out has been likened to Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise, with Cummings sat at the front and Downing Street aides sitting in front of him in different groups in an open plan office space.
They will be surrounded by screens showing real time data on the spread of the coronavirus.