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Former military personnel will be used to test and refine the government’s divisive digital ID scheme from Friday, when ministers make a smartphone-based veteran card available to 1.8 million people.
The proof of service, which in its current physical version gives access to charities, retail discounts and certain public services, will be the first of a series of official credentials the government wants to let people carry in a government app.
Digital driving licences will be in development by the end of this year and by the end of 2027, digital versions of every government-issued credential – including disclosure and barring checks – will be offered for voluntary use, officials said. Keir Starmer wants to make carrying a digital ID mandatory for anyone wanting or needing to prove their right to work in the UK by the end of this parliament.
That plan sparked cross-party opposition and a 2.9 million-signature petition calling for it to be dropped. But the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, this week complained of “scaremongering” and said digital IDs would not be used to track citizens and “there will be no pooling of people’s private information into a single, central dataset”.
Ministers hope the digital veteran card will show how the technology works and quash public concerns about privacy and security. Kendall said it “will help remove barriers, reduce red tape and make it easier for people to access the public services they need”.
The Royal British Legion, the veterans’ charity that sells poppies, called the card “a positive development” and said it could improve access to services and benefits for the armed forces communities. But other veterans oppose it. Stephen Kent, the media director of Veterans Association UK, a small not-for-profit members’ group, said: “We don’t need it. It’s not for what Labour says it’s for …. A lot of veterans don’t like the idea of it [and that they] are using us as an experiment.”
Veterans will be able hold the credential in a smartphone app called Gov.uk One Login. The government had previously said digital credentials, including the veteran card, would be held in an app called the Gov.uk Wallet. It now says it will “transition to talking about [One Login] as the Gov.uk Wallet” as more government-issued credentials become available digitally.
The credential will be stored under encryption in the app in a similar way to a train or concert ticket is held in an Apple or Google wallet. Verification by face ID or a fingerprint will be required to access it and the government says it is safer than physical IDs. Another version of the credential will be held by the Ministry of Defence and when more IDs are added, the information will remain with each issuer and in the citizens’ app so there is no central database of all ID data creating what some have feared could be a “honeypot for hackers”.
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Scottish National party have all opposed the digital ID plan. Labour opponents include the MP Richard Burgon, who said it threatened “civil liberties and our data security and [creates] the risk of our data being handed over to US tech giants”.
Kendall told parliament on Monday the government “absolutely will not” hand over control of any digital ID system containing information about people’s lives. Ministers have said they expect it to be built by the government’s in-house digital services department. Industry estimates suggest it could cost about £1bn to set up.
Kendall also ruled out the system ever allowing the government to track location, consumer spending habits or social media activity. And she said that at no stage in the future would people be required by the police to produce the digital ID. MPs have voiced fears it could be weaponised by future governments.
