The real obstacle for UK digital ID is a national trust deficit

We’ve been hearing whispers about a national digital ID from the UK Government for years, and now it has a name: ‘BritCard’. 

On the surface, the pitch sounds tempting: a simple way to access services, prove who you are, and make life a little bit smoother. But as soon as you scratch beneath the surface, you quickly realise the biggest challenges aren’t about the tech at all. They’re about people.

The first, most obvious question is: why do we need this? The government champions BritCard as a tool to improve right-to-work checks and tackle fraud. Yet, it remains unclear how this represents a giant leap from the patchwork system of passports, driving licences, and utility bills we already use. For most people, these documents spend years gathering dust between job changes or house moves. Is the marginal convenience worth the trade-off?

The argument that a national digital ID like the UK Government wants to introduce is harder to forge feels like a small carrot, especially when the stick is a centralised government database of our identities. Furthermore, the claim that BritCard will solve illegal working seems naive. Such exploitation thrives in the cash-in-hand, off-the-books economy, a world that a digital ID is unlikely to ever touch. A glance across Europe – where countries like Germany, Spain, and Belgium have long had ID cards – confirms they are hardly a silver bullet against fraud or illegal immigration.

These practical questions, however, pale in comparison to the core issue. Can we, hand on heart, trust any government with a master key to our digital lives? Trust is not given; it is earned. And for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, that trust is in critically short supply.

This government has received no shortage of accusations of “two-tier policing,” the silencing of dissent, and numerous sleaze allegations. The controversial Online Safety Act – criticised as a tool for dystopian overreach that pushes users, including minors, towards dangerous services – has only deepened concerns about state surveillance and data privacy.

It is in this climate that Labour’s poll numbers continue to slide and the Prime Minister’s net favourability rating has hit a new low.

Public anxiety about BritCard is compounded by a constant drumbeat of high-profile cyberattacks. When the data of household names like Jaguar Land Rover, M&S, and Adidas – and even the deeply personal data of children in the Kido nursery chain hack – can be compromised, government promises of “secure systems” ring hollow.

Adding to this concern about a national UK digital ID is a glaring red flag: accountability. The Information Commissioner’s Office, our official data watchdog, has seemed increasingly hesitant to take public bodies to task. If the referee refuses to blow the whistle, how can we trust the players to follow the rules?

It’s no surprise that opposition to BritCard is mounting from across the political spectrum, including Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Reform UK. While many citizens might voluntarily adopt a digital ID for convenience, any attempt to make it mandatory for accessing basic services will face a wall of resistance.

The UK Government would do well to listen to Peter Chamberlin, one of the key architects of its own ‘One Login’ system, to have any chance of gaining public trust for a national digital ID.

“Digital identity has the power to be a game changer, speeding up access to services and making cost savings,” he tells us. “However, the government has to put inclusion at the heart of its approach. It must be transparent and enshrine privacy by design. This will be critical to achieve the trust necessary for public acceptance, uptake, and adoption—whether or not it is mandated.”

Chamberlin is right. You cannot simply build the technology and expect citizens to flock to it. The government must show, not just tell, how privacy is protected at every step. It must prove the system works for everyone, not just the tech-savvy, and that BritCard is not a precursor to a surveillance state.

The UK government can spend millions on the shiniest app and the most secure digital ID card, but it will be for nothing if it cannot convince the public that the idea itself is safe, necessary, and trustworthy.

See also: Urgent digital migration could save UK services billions

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Tags: cybersecurity, digital id, europe, government, infosec, politics, privacy, Security, uk