Where and when has the digital ID system been proposed before now?

This is not the first time a government has proposed an ID system.

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In the early 2000s, when Tony Blair's Labour was in government, it proposed voluntary ID cards.

However, the scheme was scrapped in 2011 by the Conservative-led coalition, which argued it was too expensive and intrusive.

The UK has only had compulsory ID cards during World War Two, and Winston Churchill's government scrapped them in 1952 following criticism over costs and police use.