Digital ID critic claims council debate influenced government climbdown

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

A councillor in south Wales has suggested his council may have played a part in persuading the UK Government to water down its plans for mandatory digital IDs.

Newport City Council held a lengthy debate in November on the pros and cons of the policy, triggered by Conservative councillor Ray Mogford, who said he had “legitimate concerns” about its introduction.

The UK Government this week dropped plans to move to a compulsory new digital ID system for workers, but said existing checks would move online by 2029.

The policy was previously touted as a key tool to prevent illegal work, which would also eventually make it easier to apply for government services.

Cllr Mogford said he was “absolutely delighted” by the news, adding: “There were and still remain so many question marks around the scheme such as the impact on civil liberties, data protection, its effectiveness, and of course, the cost viability.”

He and some Tory colleagues raised those concerns during a council meeting in November, but met opposition from Labour members who labelled those claims as “misinformation” that was either out of date or misrepresented the UK Government’s intentions.

The council subsequently adopted a Labour amendment which supported the plans for digital ID and called on the UK Government to address misinformation concerns – with the authority’s leader, Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, later writing to ministers asking them to tackle the issue head-on.

Cllr Mogford said he “would like to think that the letter sent by Newport Council” to the home secretary and the technology secretary “had some small part to play in triggering the u-turn on making digital ID cards mandatory”.

“Of course, we still await further announcements regarding the delayed public consultation and then any final outcome,” he added.

Newport City Council and the UK Government’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology were contacted for comment.