Many of us will be feeling relieved at the news that new prime minister, Andy Burnham, announced that he would scrap digital ID, to focus funds on other priorities.
by Mike Gomm
Burnham was part of the Blair government and would have seen the expense and effort put into creating ID cards, which were aborted, due to public pressure. Indeed, a year ago, digital ID appeared to have been dropped by the Government, thanks to public opposition.
Regardless of the public’s feelings, though, digital ID was being implemented across government departments. This was proved to me last year, when I had to renew my driving licence. Since May 2025, when you renew your driving licence online, a digital profile is created using a biometric image of your face and other data. This was shared with Companies House, as I discovered when I didn’t have to verify my ID in my role as the trustee of a CIC (Charitable Incorporated Company) at the end of last year. The system asked for my email address and date of birth and then told me I did not need to go through the process to verify my ID as a digital ID for me already existed!
You must be logged in as a subscriber to view this content. You can subscribe here or if you are already a subscriber, log in here