Kier Starmer! The most dosy and boring person in existence in my opinion. I don’t think he really knows what he’s doing or how to be a PM if I’m honest. Am I allowed to ask what we need these digital IDs for? I mean not all phones are going to be compatible and tech isn’t always great, especially when it doesn’t work. 

Expecto_Patronum said:

There also needs to be way of keeping track of immigrants and their status in order to keep them and others safe.

I think another decade will bring the first discussions of having everyone "chipped" like pets so they can be tracked and immigrants will be much easier to identify and follow.

There will make up a good justification as they can then put your passport, voting ID, bank info and criminal record on the chip so you get the convenience of no longer needing a purse / wallet, plus they can do away with physical money which is dirty anyway and only used by criminals and homeless people anyway...

It will make finding missing children so easy, you can find friends in a busy area, can locate the old relative with dementia when they wander off etc.

Once we are used to carrying the voter ID this will give the government the incentive to go to the next step, especially when most of the older, non tech aware people are dead by then so are less of a barrier.

It wouldn't be about wealth but about legality. If a poor person migrated here legally they would be able to be here on a visa or apply for citizenship if they meet the requirements same as a rich person could. 

This is all to try and reduce the illegal boat crossings and manage the numbers of people migrating here. 

However, there are some people saying that it won't help and their logic is pretty sound. Illegal immigrants will still manage to find work illegally but they would like be pushed into the darkness to work for dodgier employers that could put them at serious risk. And as long as some sort of work is an option people will still risk the boat journey to get here.

It's a really sad situation. People shouldn't need to flee their homes to be safe and find jobs. But the UK is also a small country and it cannot house this many migrants indefinitely. There also needs to be way of keeping track of immigrants and their status in order to keep them and others safe. Who knows what the actual solution to this is.

I'm not scared, I'm angry. Because we rent, we had to pay for new passports when ours expired so that we would be able to prove ID when we moved home. Now apparently those expensive documents aren't enough to prove who we are, because apparently it's easy to forge them! So if they become invalid, will we get a refund? 

From the articles I've read it appears that these new digital IDs will be required to get a job or rent a home, mainly to stop illegal immigration. But what if a wealthy foreigner wants to move here and buy a home? Is it different rules for the rich?

I don't want to get a job (I'm retired) and hope I never have to move again, so I can't see a reason for me to have one.

I can't see how it would work for access to the NHS, as it wouldn't be right to turn away patients if their phone has been lost or stolen, or they are elderly or vulnerable and don't have a smartphone. We already have NHS numbers for identification - that should be enough. And if immigration is controlled by other means, there should not be a significant strain on the NHS.

The government hasn’t yet worked out what, if any, alternatives to digital ID would be acceptable.

A passport is currently an acceptable form of ID for many things such as for voting in government elections, opening a bank account or claiming government benefits. 

I imagine that any transition period to digital ID would be gradual, and that other forms of ID such as a passport would continue to be acceptable for a long time. Alternatively, they may introduce ID cards for some people, but it is unlikely to be long term and universal as the cost to the government would be high and it could be open to fraud. These are just my own thoughts about it because I do not have insight into how it might be worked out.

Many European countries have had laws requiring citizens to carry ID cards for many years, so they will probably eventually shift over to digital ID too. 

And what would be the concrete benefits i wonder. Cheaper to renew I guess.

Although I have a smartphone it has no personal data on it - no email accounts and no banking apps because if it gets stolen the contents of the phone is usually worth more than the phone to criminals.

Adding personal ID to the haul a criminal would get when stealing a phone is idiotic.

Would a passport be still acceptable? For ID?

In 2000 they wanted to charge £90 for this and scrap it. I carry my passport for ID to show at the local election or rarely ask proof of age. I don't like exposing my phone in public. People grab and snatch.

I'm not sure they'd be able to refuse a non digital version. There will be other people that are just not able to use a smart phone version. Whether they make it so it's searchable so you have an online ID but not on your person so work places or whatever could access it. Or there would need to be some kind of hard copy version but you'd possibly have to attend some kind of in person type thing like when you do with visas.

It's going to take a long time for them to set up individual IDs for the whole country so this wont be happening any time soon. I'd imagine it would have a gradual roll out as well to test it first.

I've no idea what would happen if people refused. They'd have to change the law to make it compulsory first. I've never heard of people having to attend a police station with all their car documents. Why does that happen? I've only been stopped by the police once (for nothing) and they just looked up my driver's license on their system. I didn't have to do anything.

It's quite silly to depend on smartphones for ID, which is why I use my passport instead. What about those who don’t have a smartphone? If someone loses their phone or it gets stolen, they face serious inconvenience without a backup form of ID. We need to think about everyone's needs in our digital world.

I've got a friend who's engaged to an Australian,

Another to an Irish guy

And another one who is married to an Irish guy. 

Thanks for the link, I have signed.

If thats anything like they do at the opticians then thats going to be quite a job, they keep telling me my reactions are to fast as I move just as the thing goes to puff or shine a light in my eye.

I am also scared. Waiting for the retina scan when I do not have my phone around, which is many times.

I've already signed the petition.

I'm honestly not sure they will make a non digital version available, I think they're more likely to tell us we have to have one, even if they end up giving us a device for it, just like they made people with no bank accounts use the post office cash machine to get benefits. Hopefully my GP's surgery won't bother as they know us all anyway and we're all on first name terms, even the doctors use tier first names.

I ownder what will happen if people refuse to have one or carry it? WIll it be like when you're stopped by the police and have to attend a station with all your car documents and a fine if you don't? Maybe there will be mass civil disobedience if they bring them in, I would be a part of that disobedience.

There is a petition on the parliamentary website and the more people that sign it the less likely they are to proceed with it (as it has already reached 100,000 they will discuss the petition in parliament):

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194

with the title: 

Do not introduce Digital ID cards

and this description:

More details

The BBC News app has quoted the government:

The practicalities of the scheme will be subject to a consultation, which will also look at how to make it work for those without a smartphone or passport.

I know uncertainty is very difficult especially about something you'd be anxious about anyway. But at the moment they haven't confirmed exactly what is what. It is going to take a lot of time to set up and roll out. This is going to be something that pops up next week or next month. 

They are going to have to consider those without smart phones. Whether the reason for having one is not liking them or not having the capacity to be able to use it is irrelevant. They will have to have an alternative option. They cannot make British citizens illegal because they don't have a smart phone.

Try not to get too caught up in catatrophising. Try to wait and see what details come out so you know what is actually going to happen. Really difficult I know though. Look after yourself. Plenty of self care.