'Britcard' plan may fit our hi-tech era but the old objections remain

It is 21 years since Tony Blair’s government made proposals for an ID card system to tackle illegal working and immigration abuse and to make it more convenient for the public to access services.

- Robert Booth

The same problems are on the agenda as Keir Starmer revives what became one of New Laboutr’s most controversial policies. He is about to find out if he can defeat the argument the Conservatives made before scrapping it. They said the ID card approach to personal privacy was “the worst of all worlds - intrusive, ineffective and enormously expensive”.

Blair is an important figure in the latest push, through lobbying carried out by his Tony Blair Institute (TBI). This time the idea arrives in a different technological world in which smartphones are ubiquitous and much, but far from all, of the population is familiar with negotiating digital credentials.