The government’s plan to introduce ID cards could be open to misuse by a future, less-democratic government as well as being vulnerable to hackers, Honiton and Sidmouth MP Richard Foord has warned.
The government plans to introduce a nationwide digital ID system by 2029 to verify citizens’ right to live and work in the UK. The mainly app-based digital ID, or ‘Brit Card’, will be mandatory for employment but optional otherwise.
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Digital ID systems are extensively used in other countries, including Estonia, Australia, Denmark and India. Supporters argue that it will help boost security and increase efficiency, while critics have raised privacy, cost, and government overreach concerns.
In a speech in Westminster Hall on Tuesday (October 21), Mr Foord told parliamentary colleagues he had “serious concerns” about the scheme, particularly over civil liberties and the potential misuse of personal information.
“We should remember that although we may live in a benign social democracy today, that cannot be guaranteed in the future. When bestowing new powers on government, MPs have a responsibility to think about how those powers could be used,” the Liberal Democrat MP said.
Critics, including opposition parties and civil liberties groups, have warned that the scheme could threaten privacy and increase surveillance, and more than 2.4 million people recently signed a petition opposing the plan, prompting calls for wider public debate.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the ID card will make it harder to work illegally in the country, as well as make the UK’s borders more secure, but Mr Foord rejected the claims.
“There are already requirements on employers to check that applicants have a right to work in the UK. Why would an employer who did not carry out a right-to-work check for, say, a passport, suddenly carry out such a check for digital ID?”
Mr Foord also raised concerns about the possibility of sensitive personal information being hacked. “When the government centralise vast amounts of personal data, they create a target for hackers and cyber criminals,” he said.
To stress the point, he noted that the National Audit Office had identified significant gaps in cyber security earlier this year. The watchdog found that 58 critical government IT systems had significant gaps in cyber resilience, adding that the government did not know how vulnerable at least 228 ‘legacy’ IT systems were to cyber-attack.
In three highly publicised incidents, Marks & Spencer, Jaguar Land Rover and Co-op were targeted by hackers in recent months, with data breaches affecting millions of people.
The Co-op reported a cost of £206 million in lost revenues following a cyber-attack in April this year, while Marks & Spencer warned that the cyber-attack it suffered, disrupting online sales and pausing click-and-collect services, reduced its 2025 operating profit by £300 million.
The latest attack at a major British firm shut production at Jaguar Land Rover in August. It is estimated to have cost the UK economy about £1.9 billion, making it possibly the most expensive UK incident to date.
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