Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Digital ID plans are “frankly scary”, a conservative The shadow minister has warned as he sought “evidence” that a new system will help crack down on illegal working.
Shadow Science Minister Viscount Camrose warned that the government’s reasoning for introducing the digital ID system was “too optimistic”.
technology Secretary Liz Kendall The plan is “about giving people more agency in their lives,” he told MPs earlier this week.
He said that these digital identity cards mean that data is “much less likely to be lost or stolen”, and added that a pub bookmaker “may be able to prove that you are over 18 without even showing your exact birthday”, with privacy “hard-built into the system from the beginning”.
Ms Kendall also said the plan would “provide greater fairness by showing who has the right to work in the UK”.
Responding in the Lords, Viscount Camrose said: “If allowed to become law, voters risk an extraordinary expansion of state power which comes not only at the expense of individual liberties, but at huge cost to the taxpayer.”
He called for “evidence” that digital IDs would serve the government’s objectives, adding: “Criminal gangs and illegal workers already operate outside the formal employment and taxation systems.
“They don’t care about paperwork or credentials. They operate illegally, beyond the reach of existing regulation.
“They destroy existing national insurance requirements.
“So, why would we expect digital ID to be any different?”
The Viscount told peers that the plan was “untested”, with the government’s view being “too optimistic to be credible”.
He said the proposal was “enormous in its aims, modest in its detail and frankly scary in its reach into our privacy”.
Viscount Camrose said: “Better online services do not require centralized identity systems.
“We already have mechanisms in place such as right to work checks and DBS (Disclosure and Barring Services) verification.”
Liberal Democrat science spokesman Lord Clement-Jones described the early phase plans as “another fundamental error by this government”.
He said: “The main issue here is not technology, but freedom.”
But Lord! patrick valence Defending the plans, it argued that digital IDs would be mandatory “only to verify the right to work”.
He said it was a “very narrow use for a very specific purpose”.
Lord Vallance, the government’s former chief scientific adviser and now science minister, added: “But we have always believed and continue to believe that there are huge benefits in a digitally enabled society, where everyone feels able to participate, everyone feels a sense of agency, and everyone’s life is made easier by a digital key that actually unlocks access to services.”
The Labor peer also said: “In countries where digital ID is well established, the private sector has built a wide range of services around it, making everyday tasks like opening banking, renting a flat, applying for a mortgage faster, simpler and more secure.
“But that’s not its essential use – the essential use is for the right to work.”