Pushback of the Week
MPs Opposed to UK Digital ID
January 25, 2026
In late September of last year, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans for a mandatory digital ID to be called the “BritCard.”
The reaction from members of the public was swift and furious, with a citizen petition rapidly garnering almost three million signatures. Nearly one in five Members of the House of Commons also chimed in, submitting an “early day motion” (used to draw attention to specific topics or events) on Oct. 13 “strongly condemn[ing] the Government’s plans to introduce a mandatory digital ID scheme.” The 34 MPs noted:
“[A]ny mandatory ID scheme would fundamentally reverse the nature of citizens’ relationship with the state and risk turning Britain into a checkpoint society [and] … would usher in a new era of mass surveillance that would enable a range of other privacy violations.”
Independent MP Rupert Lowe, who has served in the House of Commons since July 2024, subsequently penned an open letter to Starmer, co-signed by close to 50 MPs, who reiterated the view that the compulsory digital ID scheme is “dangerous, intrusive and deeply un-British” and vowed to “oppose it at every stage.”
On January 13, the government made a pretense of backing down, stating that it would drop its plans linking the BritCard to the right to work. Although Lowe and other digital ID opponents are currently celebrating, this is, as Catherine often points out, trench warfare. Parsing the ostensible “victory,” Iain Davis—author of The Technocratic Dark State, discussed with John Titus in a recent interview at Solari—reports that the UK’s digital ID intentions are essentially unchanged.
Suggesting that the BritCard was a propaganda construct designed to distract the public with a “loathed bogeyman,” Davis points out that Starmer assured Parliament the very next day, “There will be checks. They will be digital and they will be mandatory.” Last August, the UK took another step in that direction with its rollout of the emphemistic “Online Safety Act,” making age verification mandatory for access to various content, including “heart of the Internet” sites such as Reddit. After Reddit caved, the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned, “When fines are at stake, platforms will always default to overcensoring.”
True victory will only come about, emphasizes Iain Davis, “if we are serious about mass non compliance.” In the meantime, this series of events offers an excellent opportunity to see how the game is played.
