Carmichael welcomes government U-turn on mandatory digital ID

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has today welcomed news that the government will abandon proposals for mandatory use of a digital ID, and called for the scheme as a whole to be scrapped.

The government has dropped plans which would have required workers to sign up to the digital ID scheme in order to prove their right to work in the UK. This marks a shift from last year when the government first announced the policy.

Mr Carmichael said:

“This U-turn surely proves beyond all doubt that the Labour government announced their digital ID card scheme without a clue on how they would go about implementing it. Far too much time and energy has been expended on this issue already – now is surely the moment for ministers to drop the proposals entirely and use the funds for something more useful.

“We have a long-standing principle that people have a basic right to live their lives free of interference, as long as we are not doing harm to anyone else. That basic right would be turned on its head by mandatory ID cards. Participating in our society and our public services would become not a right but a privilege, bestowed on us by the state – just so long as we do as we are told.

“I opposed that when the SNP tried to force it on people during Covid, and I will continue to oppose it from Labour as well.”