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Why does Labour want to revive its digital ID plans?
The Independent
|March 11, 2026
Remarkably, the government has confirmed that it is to revive its digital ID plans.
Briefly - and squirm-inducingly - known as the “Brit card”, the scheme is now dubbed “government by app” and is to be the subject of an elaborate consultation process with a clearer plan emerging perhaps later this year. What are its chances?
Haven't we been through all this already?
Yes, which is why the latest initiative is a little surprising. Compulsory ID has always been unpopular, even when imposed during the Second World War, with its fascistic overtones of "papers, please". The wartime system was abolished in 1952 and never replaced, whereas in much of the world carrying a photo ID card, or the smartphone equivalent, is perfectly normal.
This story is from the March 11, 2026 edition of The Independent.
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