Opposing Labour’s Digital ID Scheme

Council further notes that the Government’s plan:

• Could require every resident to obtain a Digital ID to access public services and entitlements;
• Could risk criminalising millions of people, particularly older people, those on lower incomes, or those without access to digital technology;
• Raises significant privacy and civil liberties concerns;
• Could result in billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being wasted on a massive IT project, with no clear benefit or safeguards.

Council believes that Labour’s scheme:

• Represents an expensive measure that will undermine public trust;
• Will do nothing to address the real priorities facing communities such as [INSERT LOCAL PRIORITY – e.g., NHS backlogs, cost of living crisis, etc.];
• Fails to protect our core British values of liberty, privacy and fairness.

Council welcomes the Liberal Democrats’ consistent national opposition to Labour’s ID cards, having previously defeated Labour’s original plans for ID cards in 2010, and opposes Labour’s renewed attempt to impose them in digital form.

Council resolves:

• To formally oppose the Labour Government’s Digital ID plans;
• To request the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive write to:
  
  • The Secretary of State for the Home Department; the local Members of Parliament representing [INSERT AREA] and the Minister for Digital Infrastructure expressing this council’s firm opposition to Labour’s mandatory Digital ID system and calling for the plans to be scrapped.
• To work with local voluntary, digital inclusion and civil liberties groups to ensure that no resident in [AREA] is penalised or excluded as a result of any national identification scheme.

Template PR Digital ID

Dear all, 

Please find below a template press release to go along with the campaign against digital ID cards. 

This can be used for England, Scotland and Wales. 

The Campaign Pack with instructions on how to launch the local petition can be found here.

For any questions please contact [email protected]. 

Thanks,

Lib Dem Media Team

[INSERT MP or SPOKESPERSON] launches petition against Starmer’s digital ID cards

[INSERT MP or SPOKESPERSON] and [AREA] Liberal Democrats have today launched a local petition opposing the Labour government’s introduction of mandatory Digital ID cards. 

The campaign backed by [INSERT MP or SPOKESPERSON] calls on the Government to immediately cancel its plans for mandatory digital ID.

The Liberal Democrats have raised concerns about the millions of older people, people living in poverty and disabled people – who are more likely to be digitally excluded.

Commenting on the campaign launch, [INSERT MP or SPOKESPERSON] said:

“Mandatory digital ID will cost taxpayers billions with zero guarantee of success - time and time again government tech projects waste huge sums of money and don’t actually work. 

“Local people want action on the issues that matter to them. We need action to fix our NHS and tackle the cost of living crisis, not just gimmicks like this. The Government needs to scrap this plan and get on with making our country a better place to live. 

“The Liberal Democrats oppose the Labour Party’s long obsession with ID cards and more state control. We will fight against it tooth and nail - just as we successfully did against Tony Blair’s ID cards.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors: 

Link to the petition can be found here [INSERT LINK TO LOCALISED PETITION]