THE NATIONWIDE rollout of digital ID cards will face the “risk of hacks” but should be embraced anyway, a Cabinet Minister has admitted.
Tens of millions of workers will be forced to get electronic passports within the next four years under plans unveiled yesterday.
Peter Kyle conceded that protecting the data in the newly-unveiled digital ID cards was a threat[/caption]
Brits will not be required to carry their ID with them at all times but they will be used for ‘right to work’ checks[/caption]
Sir Keir Starmer said: “You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that.”
The mobile cards – that include someone’s name, residency status, date of birth, nationality and photograph – will be optional for non-workers like pensioners.
Brits will not be required to carry their ID with them at all times but they will be used for “right to work” checks.
The PM insisted the controversial proposals will help cops flush out Channel migrants working illegally by checking their status more easily.
And he claimed it would offer “countless benefits” to citizens including quicker access to government services on their phones.
But critics have warned digital ID would make Brits vulnerable to their personal data being harvested in cyber attacks.
More than 1.2million people have already signed a petition opposed to the idea.
Tory MP David Davis warned: “Even sophisticated high-tech organisations struggle to protect the data they hold.”
Business Secretary Peter Kyle conceded this was a threat but that people should “embrace the risk” for the upsides.
He told The Sun: “There’s two risks. There is the risk that we embrace the digital age, that we harness its power for every citizen around the country.
“And that there will be either mistakes or there will be errors, and there will be the risk of hacks.”
He said the “danger that we don’t through fear, embrace this technology” would see an “analogue government in a digital age”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the policy – which was not in Labour’s manifesto – should be the subject of a national debate.
She said: “Can we really trust Labour to implement an expensive national programme that will impact all of our lives and put additional burdens on law-abiding people? I doubt it.”
Peter Kyle told The Sun: ‘There’s two risks. There is the risk that we embrace the digital age, that we harness its power for every citizen around the country’[/caption]
Tory MP David Davis warned: ‘Even sophisticated high-tech organisations struggle to protect the data they hold’[/caption]
Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that’[/caption]
