Plans to roll out a compulsory digital ID card in Britain have sparked fierce debate among Independent readers.
While many branded the “Brit card” an attack on civil liberties and insisted it would do little to curb illegal migration, others felt the introduction would be “nothing to fear”.
Many readers supported the idea, citing examples in countries like Estonia and arguing that digital ID could help modernise public services and make it harder for criminals to exploit loopholes.
Some praised ministers for being “bold enough to take action” on migration, even if the rollout will be complex.
Others, however, argued the policy would unfairly target migrants and ordinary citizens alike, with one reader describing it as “state surveillance gone too far”.
Critics also warned it would do little to tackle illegal migration, suggesting instead that it could drive vulnerable people further underground. As one reader put it, the scheme risks creating “a two-tier society” in which those without papers are pushed into unsafe jobs and housing.
Here’s what you had to say:
The identity card will restore our rights
I opposed the very idea of the identity card as a way for the state to get control over the citizen for most of my long life.
The objection to the need for citizens to compulsorily possess a card was based on the concept that it reversed the role of the state and the individual citizen. Which comes first? Surely the individual is the creature who creates and controls the state, not the other way round. To reverse the role is to undermine our basic liberty.
However, these were in the days before our very existence was taken over by everybody – from state bureaucracies controlling our health needs, entitlements to pensions and social welfare, and our obligations to pay national and local taxes – to the commercial agencies of the information age, which have every aspect of our lives recorded in innumerable national and international databases and out of our control. Our every detail is recorded in the archives of powerful international companies who control our credit and financial status and intervene in the most intimate details of our very existence.
It is into this world, where we long ago lost control of our privacy, that the identity card now intrudes.
In the 2025 context, it is the ID card which will restore a measure of our privacy and guarantee our identity against impersonation. It is the ID card that will guarantee our rights to the benefits, to vote and play a full part in the political and economic system. It is the identity card that will show we have the national rights and privileges that others currently enjoy only because they carry false identities and have no actual right to them.
Would you happily adopt a digital ID card? Join the conversation in the comments below.
Nothing to hide, nothing to fear
About time we fell in line with other countries and the EU.
Yes, of course, people will be able to fake IDs just as they currently fake driving licences and passports, but ID cards will make it possible to get a much stronger grasp of who is in the country, and gradually eliminate people who are engaged in the colossal black market that is a far bigger problem than politicians let on.
The HMRC are imposing digital accounting on the self-employed progressively from next April, so again the opportunities to evade tax by underreporting income and overstating expenses will start to dry up.
If you are honest and have nothing to hide then you can't possibly object to this proposal.
Crooks of all colours and from all walks of life will, however, be put on notice that they will eventually be found out.
It would make sense for there to be a general amnesty for people who are here illegally in order that they can be registered on the system, and that would go hand in hand with a deadline after which anyone caught without an ID would be liable to expulsion or prosecution.
If people have nothing to hide, why object?
If people have nothing to hide, why do they object to identity cards? Everyone wants something done about illegal immigrants, but as soon as an idea is broadcast, those same people shout about civil liberties.
I have nothing to hide so would welcome an identity card, and I’m sure legal immigrants would too. To me, it makes more sense than only letting migrants into the country if they have jobs that earn over £80,000. Our NHS and care homes would suffer then.
Benefit fraud would be a thing of the past
If it wasn't for the Tories fussing about their "freedoms", ID cards could already be being used – they were scrapped by David Cameron, and it would have been possible to insist that all migrants from the EU register for an ID card if they were going to stay here and work, giving them reciprocal access to benefits, but only if they had an ID card which qualified them to do so, just as in, for instance, Belgium, or indeed almost all EU countries.
Benefit fraud would already be a thing of the past, as well as most illegal and exploitative working practices.
And the whole campaign about EU citizens walking into the country, uncontrolled and uncounted, would have been a load of nonsense.
We also probably wouldn't have voted to leave the EU.
It's almost as if the Tories tried as hard as they could to make uncontrolled EU migration into this country a reason to leave the EU, when it was entirely their fault. But maybe that's pushing it. Certainly, Labour never said that that was what was happening during the referendum campaign, but then incompetence has been rife in Westminster for a long, long time.
I will never accept an ID card
Finally, they have done it. I'm 65 today and for most of those years I've struggled to maintain my free life, my choice to be where I want to be and do what I want to do, within the law, without telling or asking permission from the government, Google or whatever. I am me, I am not a product or the possession of the UK.
For some people this is nothing, but for me, it's of the utmost importance as I do not subscribe and I value my freedom above everything else.
Seems the UK government have finally found a way they can prosecute me for wanting to hold on to this freedom, as I will never accept an ID card. I would go to prison first.
Absolutely no problem in Portugal
Have them in Portugal and it is absolutely no problem. In fact, it is pretty handy.
We do know a Brit here illegally – as soon as they are stopped once by the police for a random check it is over. They will be deported.
Estonia’s system works only as a package
He picked ONE thing from Estonia, but that works ONLY as a package.
Estonia runs one of the most centralised and digitalised population registries in Europe.
It’s called the Population Register (Rahvastikuregister).
Every Estonian resident, citizen or foreigner with a residence permit must register their official address of residence.
If you move, you’re legally required to update the register (either online with an ID card, via local government, or at the Police and Border Guard Board).
The register records: name, personal ID code, family relations, marital status, citizenship, residence address, and history of moves.
Municipalities rely on this for schooling, voting districts, local services, and taxes. Ministries and agencies tap into it through the X-Road digital backbone.
So yes, Estonia doesn’t just have a bureau, it has a live, interconnected state database where your declared residence must always be up to date.
If you fail to update, you can lose access to local services, voting rights in the wrong district, or even face fines.
This is part of the reason Estonia is often called an “e-state”: the population register is the spine of its e-government. It’s a bit like a digital census that never stops running.
Without all that, an e-ID is completely useless.
Why should I carry another card?
I am British, lived in Britain all my life. Why should I have to take a mandatory ID card? I already have a passport, driving licence etc. Does that mean I have to carry a wallet now at all times?
Big Brother is watching a bit too closely for my liking. What about all the elderly who struggle with ID in general? Just more paperwork to deal with.
Frankly, it is just another step in removing civil liberties in my opinion.
Will no ID card mean no benefits?
I cannot for the life of me see how an ID card can affect illegal immigration. The illegal immigrants will still be among us either without ID cards or with stolen or forged cards.
If the production of a valid ID card is mandatory for accessing services, benefits, NHS and welfare services then it might just be of value (it will undoubtedly cost north of £250 million just to set up, and an awful lot to maintain).
ID card makes my life easier
I've lived in Spain since 1983 and was issued my ID number the same year, when I applied for permission to reside in Spain. That was even before Spain became a member of the EEC, but they were way ahead of the UK in almost everything regarding ID controls and banking, etc.
I've had several ID card renewals since then, but have kept the same ID number since day one, and this is the number that appears on my Spanish driving licence, my tax returns, and my Spanish social security health card, among other documents. It's the card that I can show to prove my identity when I travel within the country or within the EU or check into a hotel.
The latest card is a physical, credit-card-sized electronic card made of plastic or polycarbonate, and has an electronic chip for NFC technology containing biometric data like a photograph and fingerprints. It's not so much that the Spanish authorities can keep a check on me, it's to make my life easier on a day-to-day basis!
I also hold a British passport for international travel, and because my Spanish residency depends on me having a valid passport of my country of origin, but as passport numbers change every 10 years, there's little continuity as far as that document is concerned, as there is with my ID card.
Starmer the dictator?
Starmer, the dictator of the UK, now wants all adults to have an ID card.
The government cannot cope with the illegal migrants coming to the UK by putting a stop to it, so Starmer thinks by giving the British people an ID card that needs to be produced for even employment, it will put off the illegal migrants coming to the UK.
The cost of the ID cards will run into millions of taxpayers’ money, and all because the British government cannot stop the illegal migrants getting to the UK.
The British government love wasting money. They paid France millions to stop the migrants crossing the Channel, but it was all a waste of money. Then the government spent millions on the Rwanda scheme and all a waste of money.
It’s Macron that has told Starmer that the British citizens need ID cards to stop the migrants coming to the UK, but instead Macron should be giving back the millions paid to the French government to stop the migrants.
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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