Government concessions on digital ID do not go far enough – Carmichael

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has today warned that the government’s shift from a “mandatory” to a “voluntary” digital ID scheme does not go far enough, and called for the plans to be scrapped outright. Speaking during an Urgent Question in Parliament on the government U-turn, Mr Carmichael also highlighted the lack of transparency about the cost of the ID scheme.

Speaking in the House, Mr Carmichael said:

“I am struggling to get too excited about the change from mandatory to voluntary, because we all know that a voluntary scheme is just a mandatory scheme for slow learners, which is possibly what commends it to the Government.

“The Minister has said that he cannot yet tell us the cost of the scheme because he has not done the design work, but it is a matter of record that the Government have had a write-round, asking Departments to offer up savings to pay for it. Would it not have made sense to do the design work, have a budget, and then ask for the savings?”

Responding for the government, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, Josh Simons MP said:

“I, for one, want to hear from people before key digital products are designed. Good product design is based on what is useful for people, which is why we will have a major consultation in coming weeks, in which we will get out across the country, engage with people, and get them engaging with digital government. That way, we can learn exactly how to build this system in a way that ensures that it is trusted, useful and secure.”

Reacting after the exchange, Mr Carmichael said:

“For someone announcing a humiliating U-turn from the government benches, Mr Simons made a good fist of talking down to everyone around him. That is perhaps no surprise from someone who in a previous career at a think tank made flippant comments about shipping people off to the North of Scotland.

“The simple fact is that the government has got its ID plans badly wrong from the very start, and their concessions this week do not go far enough. They do not have public support and they are wasting public funds that could be better spent elsewhere. Now is the right time for the government to drop digital ID outright.”