Following an inquiry into digital identity systems, the Home Affairs Committee held its first evidence session with expert witnesses on 18 November 2025. Speaking on the panel, Silkie Carlo, Big Brother Watch’s director said:
“A government-issued, mandatory digital ID has the potential to create an incredibly intrusive system of surveillance and data collection, and it opens up possibilities for the government to issue and revoke permissions in certain ways.”
“Unless you have this digital ID card, you will not be able to work. Already, other government departments are talking about renting, benefits, education, and so on. I think we would be having a completely different conversation if the government were talking about a system that they thought was so attractive that, if they made it available, lots of people would want to use it. Instead, it is a mandatory system that is paired with restrictions on people’s liberties,” Carlo explained..
Questioning the purpose of a mandatory digital ID and commenting on function creeep, Carlo told the Committee, “What is it really about, and what will the other uses be? This was announced by the prime minister on a Friday afternoon, and just hours later, the government webpage about digital ID was talking about tax, benefits, education, childcare and many other uses for a digital ID”
Computer Weekly – Mandatory digital ID paves way for surveillance and exclusion, MPs hear