Across the political divide, there is one issue uniting people like few others: Digital ID.
Not an ID card. Not a simple means of proving who you are when you need to. No, what this Government proposes is something far more insidious: an app on your phone, tracking, monitoring, and ultimately controlling how you access everyday life.
This is not progress. This is not democracy. This is authoritarianism by stealth.
The British people instinctively reject it — and rightly so. We are a nation shaped by centuries of struggle against overreach, by hard-won rights, and by a deep cultural mistrust of unchecked power. To ask us to hand over our most private details to a government that has already shown itself unable to manage basic services with competence or integrity is beyond tone-deaf. It is intolerable.
The BDA’s position is clear:
-
Yes to secure identity where it protects freedom.
-
No to government surveillance disguised as modernisation.
-
Yes to independent safeguards and systems designed to serve the people.
-
No to a state that thinks it has the right to monitor your every movement.
This is not a left issue or a right issue. It is the most basic question of liberty: Who controls your life — you, or the State?
The British Democratic Alliance believes technology should empower citizens, not reduce them to data points. Any identity system must be built on independence, transparency, and accountability — and the people must remain firmly in control.
The Government has sown the seeds. Now it shall reap the whirlwind.