A 13th government U-turn on mandatory digital ID is not a sign of listening, learning or leadership; it is a flashing red warning light about just how detached, arrogant and incompetent this government has become.
Thirteen times ministers have pushed policy forward, and thirteen times they’ve been forced to retreat. Not because they suddenly found a conscience, but because the public caught on to what was really going on.
Mandatory digital ID was never about convenience or stopping illegal immigration. It was never about “modernisation”. It was about power, control and centralisation, and millions of people saw straight through it.
That is why nearly three million citizens signed a Government petition demanding that the scheme be scrapped. Three million! That is not a fringe movement or a handful of cranks on social media; that is a mass public rebellion against a policy people do not trust and never asked for.
The point the Government desperately wants you to forget is that digital ID was not in the manifesto, and it was not voted for. It was not debated openly during an election campaign at all.
There is no democratic mandate for it whatsoever. This was a policy stitched together after the fact, by civil servants, technocrats and ministers who believe the public should simply accept whatever system is built for them, whether they like it or not.
This latest U-turn doesn't signal Keir Starmer's listening. It's a flashing warning light - Adam Brooks
|PA
Groups like the Together Declaration, of which I’m a founding member, have been warning about this from the very start. The concerns were clear, rational and shared by millions: once you create a mandatory digital identity system, it does not stay limited, it expands, and it becomes a gateway to everyday life.
Access to work, services, pensions, daily travel, banking, healthcare and benefits.
Call it what you want, but once participation is compulsory, freedom becomes conditional; it becomes a digital leash around your neck, ready to be pulled if you step out of line, or even if you question the Government narrative.
The Government, of course, denied this repeatedly and told us that it was harmless. They told us it was voluntary, they told us critics were exaggerating, and then, quietly, the language changed. “Recommended” became “expected”. “Optional” became “mandatory ”. The mask slipped, and when the backlash grew far too loud to ignore, ministers performed yet another humiliating U-turn.
Let’s be brutally honest about why this happened. This Government did not back down because it respects civil liberties; it backed down because it was losing control of the narrative. MPs were receiving tens of thousands of emails.
The petition literally exploded, and campaigners refused to be silenced. Suddenly, the cost of pushing ahead became higher than the cost of retreating.
But no one should be fooled into celebrating this as a victory of good governance. This is not a climbdown based on principle; it is a temporary retreat. The infrastructure is still there.
The Government mindset is still there. And unless this policy is killed outright, it will come back under a new name, a softer tone and another round of spin.
Let’s talk about trust. Why on earth should the public trust a government that cannot run basic IT systems without wasting billions, losing data and scrapping projects halfway through?
The previous Government presided over failed NHS databases, botched test-and-trace systems and endless tech contracts handed to consultants with no accountability. And now we’re supposed to believe that this new left-wing lot can safely manage a centralised digital identity system for the entire population?
No chance, we’ve seen the catastrophic hacking issues in countries like India.
The message from the public could not have been clearer.
No mandatory digital ID… not now, not later, not ever. Scrap it entirely and drop the obsession with control. Stop treating citizens like QR codes or simply a number.
Because if this Government keeps pushing policies it has no mandate for, it will keep getting pushback. And next time, the backlash may be even harder to contain.