Is Digital ID a Technocratic Tyranny?

30 September 2025

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to introduce digital ID cards – to be branded “BritCards”, as a solution to illegal immigration.

He described the scheme as “an enormous opportunity for the UK” and claimed it would “make it tougher to work illegally in this country”. But the evidence from Europe tells another story.

With the exception of Denmark, every EU nation already issues some form of ID card. Yet illegal immigration continues at record levels across the continent. Simply put, ID cards have done nothing to prevent border breaches or clamp down on illegal work. Why should Britain expect a different outcome?

Supporters of BritCards claim the new system will force employers to check immigration status. Yet employers are already required by law to do this. Those who knowingly exploit cheap migrant labour are not suddenly going to obey the law because of a smartphone app.

The reality is that this policy is not about border control. It is about state control, putting every citizen under the digital gaze of government databases. Only last year, Sir Keir told the Labour Party Conference the state would take more ‘control in people’s lives’.

In 2021, the Government was proposing Covid Certificates to regulate our lives. (See the link below.) Covid passports making free movement dependent on having had a Covid mRNA jab were being proposed. The people have a right to be suspicious of any ID card initiative.

Now Sir Keir Starmer’s administration is planning, if that is the right word to use in connection with anything His Majesty’s Government attempts, to make digital ID mandatory for Right to Work checks by the end of this Parliament. Do we trust HMG’s ambitions will end there?

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Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. … 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Furthermore, the individual is a created being, made in the image of God:
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Voices warning of risk

Big Brother Watch has called on the Government to reject the new digital ID plan, arguing it resembles a “mandatory universal ID under a new guise” and raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns. They warn against creating a “papers please” society where law-abiding people must prove their status at every turn.

Human rights group Liberty has also weighed in. In “Compulsory digital ID will exclude some of the most marginalised members of society”, Liberty’s director Akiko Hart warned a mandatory system would worsen discrimination, particularly affecting those in poverty and the elderly. They emphasise that any digital ID must have strong safeguards, offline access, and not be mandatory.

The Psalmist speaks of liberty as a good thing to have and links it to following God’s laws:
Psalm 119:45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.

As does the Apostle Paul:
2Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Another group, TechUK, while somewhat more technocratic, has expressed concern about how the system will protect individual data.

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Lessons from failed initiatives

Britain has experience with similar projects. The Identity Cards Act of 2006 attempted to establish physical cards; it was later cancelled in 2010 due to public resistance and spiralling costs.

The scheme was projected in 2006 to cost £5.4–5.5 billion over 10 years. By the time it was scrapped in 2010, around £292 million had already been spent.

There have also been other IT scandals: the NHS’s National Programme for IT and the Post Office Horizon case exposed just how costly and destructive large, poorly managed tech projects can be—especially when the stakes involve personal data and state power.

In February 2023, in an article on that year’s attempt at an ID scheme, Christian Voice National Director, Stephen Green, noted that, “The Government presents the idea of Digital Identity as benign. However, the government departments holding our personal data will also include county councils and outside organisations working for public authorities.

“They want to bring under one digital roof all our identity details at present held by different departments.

“Biblically, Government is there to maintain peace and security according to God’s laws and to promote prosperity. It is there to serve the people, not the elite, according to our Lord’s own command. Whether those in power recognise they are there to improve the lives of the people of the UK is a moot point.”

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Concerns and call to action

Christian Voice believes that while law and order are important, they must never come at the expense of individual dignity, privacy, and freedom.

We see BritCards as a policy that risks trading liberty for the illusion of security.
We urge Parliament, local church leaders, and all citizens of conscience to demand that this new scheme:
• remain optional, not mandatory;
• include robust protections for data privacy;
• provide alternatives for those without smartphones or unwilling to use digital forms;
• avoid becoming a tool of surveillance or discrimination.

Psalm 139:14 will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

We believe the role of government is to protect without overreaching, to secure without subjugating. Christian Voice stands firm: we must push back against any policy that compromises these values.

Read and Pray

Read: Gen 1:27, Gen 2:24; Psalm 119:45; 2Sam 24:1; 1Chron 21:1; 2Cor 3:17.

Read and Pray

Read: Deut 28:12; 1Chron 16:26; Jer 22:3; Lam 5:4; Psalm 118:9; Matt 6:33.

Pray: Pray for the wisdom of God upon our leaders.
Pray for God’s direction in leadership.

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