Are you in favour of ‘digital IDs’?

Former rivals Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague said ‘a new sense of national purpose across political dividing lines is needed’.

Every citizen should be issued with a “digital ID” as part of a “fundamental reshaping of the state around technology”, Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague have urged.

The former political rivals said the challenge of adapting to the new technological revolution meant putting party differences to one side.

Their plan would involve a new ID incorporating details such as a passport, driving licence, tax records, qualifications and right-to-work status which could be stored on a mobile phone.

In a joint article for The Times they said: “Politics must change radically because the world is changing radically.

“We are living through a 21st-century technology revolution as huge in its implications as the 19th-century Industrial Revolution.”

They warned that politicians were in danger of conducting a “20th century fight at the margins of tax and spending policy” rather than grappling with the fundamental shifts required in the new era.

“We both believe the challenge is so urgent, the danger of falling behind so great and the opportunities so exciting that a new sense of national purpose across political dividing lines is needed,” the former Labour and Tory leaders said.

Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague during their time as prime minister and leader of the opposition

The pair suggested a shake-up of Whitehall “including digital ID for every citizen, a national health infrastructure that uses data to improve care and keep costs down, and sovereign AI systems backed by supercomputing capabilities”.

What are your views? Are you in favour of having a Digital ID on your phone? Do you have any concerns? Should we be embracing technology and using it in this way?