Romford MP Condemns the Introduction of Digital ID
The Prime Minister’s recent announcement to introduce a compulsory Digital ID for every British citizen is a dangerous overreach by the state. It will do little, if anything, to stop illegal migration, and instead risks undermining the freedoms of law-abiding British people.
We already have robust systems in place. British workers must provide a National Insurance number, and foreign nationals with temporary working rights are required to present a share code linked to their E-Visa. To suggest that those who have already broken the law by entering the UK illegally will suddenly comply with new bureaucratic requirements is frankly absurd. Criminals do not follow rules – if they did, they wouldn’t have entered this country in the first place.
Instead of punishing those who have broken the law and untying the legal knots which prevent us from deporting them, the Government wants to punish British nationals.
This scheme would force every hard-working Briton to surrender their personal data to a centralised system, opening the door to data breaches and cyber-attacks. If the NHS and some our leading industries can be hit by cyber-attacks, so too can a national Digital ID database.
Once this system is in place, it’s only a matter of time before it creeps into other areas of our lives, whether that his healthcare, banking, access to public services, or to vote.
I have always stood up for liberty, personal responsibility, and the right to live free from unnecessary state interference. We defeated Tony Blair’s attempt to impose national ID cards two decades ago, and we must do so again.
Instead of punishing the British people, the Government should take real action: leave the European Convention on Human Rights, repeal the Human Rights Act, and deport every individual who has broken our laws and exploited our generosity by entering the United Kingdom illegally.
