Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to announce plans for a compulsory UK-wide digital ID scheme in a speech today, 26 September 2025. Dubbed the “Brit card,” the digital ID is expected to be rolled out by the end of the current Parliament.
An article from 2017 demonstrates that Starmer’s digital ID is a solution that has been waiting for a crisis.
In his announcement today, Starmer will claim his nationwide digital ID is necessary to tackle illegal working and migration by requiring all adults to have a digital ID to prove their right to live and work in the UK.
The excuse today may be to tackle the immigration crisis, but it is the same idea that has been planned for years. As the 2017 article below shows, eight years ago, digital IDs were being pushed by commercial banks in the UK. And a global digital ID programme was being planned as a solution for a refugee crisis.
Starmer’s digital ID is a solution that has been waiting for a crisis which could be used to implement it. It is the Hegelian Dialectic: Problem-Reaction-Solution. Instead of tackling the illegal immigration crisis, Starmer is pushing their pre-conceived “solution” that has been on the cards for years.
It should be noted that the nefarious group Labour Together called for the government to introduce a “BritCard” in June. And the equally nefarious Tony Blair Institute has also endorsed the idea, although it advocated for a more expansive model.
Mark of the Beast: Digital Identity and the Cashless Cartel
Martin Edwards
Since the turn of the century, the general public has been increasingly conditioned to interact digitally. From social media to e-commerce and cashless payment systems such as Apple Pay and Android Pay, the “smartphone” is at the centre of the digital revolution.
The driver for this is not just corporate. There has been an accelerating transformation in the way that we interact with government agencies. As just one example, patients in England & Wales are now encouraged to pre-book doctor appointments. In order to register for Patient Access, patients simply need to attend their doctor’s surgery with their passport and driving licence, after which they will be issued with a user ID and password.
Digital transformation of other government services is being driven by the Government Digital Service (“GDS”), which is part of the Cabinet Office. GOV.UK Verify is the new way to prove identity online. Government agencies now using GOV.UK Verify include DVLA, DWP, HMRC and DEFRA. Using GOV.UK Verify to access a government service requires “customers” to select from a list of companies certified to verify identities, including:
- Barclays
- CitizenSafe
- Digidentity
- Experian
- Post Office
- Royal Mail
- SecureIdentity
According to the Government Transformation Strategy, 2017 – 2020, published by the Cabinet Office, “By harnessing digital to build and deliver services, the government can transform the relationship between citizen and state.”
Consideration is also being given to making the GOV.UK Verify system available to Local Authorities across the country. PublicTechnolgy.net reported on 29 August 2017 that “London mayor Sadiq Khan has appointed the capital’s first chief digital officer (CDO) … Camden Councillor, Theo Blackwell … will take the lead on work to digitally transform public services and turn London into the world’s smartest city”.
In his 2016 report UK Digital Strategy – local government and digital transformation Theo Blackwell emphasised that:
Whitehall should empower local government to … lead the development of an interoperability framework that enables data sharing and end-to-end process automation across local and central government.
By this stage, you will probably be wondering where all this transformation towards digitised Central and Local Government Services is leading us. To discover the answer to this question, we need to examine the ongoing role being played by global financial institutions such as HSBC.
HSBC’s international network serves around 38 million customers in 67 countries and territories. Many of HSBC’s customers have already received, or will soon receive, letters concerning HSBC SafeGuard. This is a global policy of this banking giant.
A copy of this letter has been examined by UK Column researchers. This letter is headed ‘HSBC Safeguard: Help Us detect fraudulent transactions and safeguard against financial crime’. It states that:
At HSBC, we’re committed to protecting all our customers’ accounts, today and for the future. To do this we need a little help from you. Our global systems rely on having the most up-to-date customer information to detect fraudulent transactions and safeguard against financial crime.
The letter continues, “As part of HSBC safeguard, we’re asking you to provide us with a document to prove your identity.” The fact that customers already provide this information when opening the account now appears to be irrelevant.
How then can customer identity be proved to the satisfaction of HSBC?
We prefer to see government issued documents that include a photograph, such as a passport or driving licence.
The letter continued:
There is no indication in the letter whether compliance with this request is voluntary or mandatory. However, it does clearly state that if you fail to provide up-to-date documentation, “we may not be able to provide you with all of our services.”
Reference to the frequently asked questions section indicates that if a bank customer “fails to respond within 30 days of receiving the letter a reminder will be sent.” This implies that compliance is mandatory. HSBC were contacted by telephone to clarify the issue. HSBC indicated that this was not a mandatory requirement; however, we have anecdotal evidence to suggest that customers who fail to comply with the requirements of HSBC Safeguard have received a further HSBC letter stating:
We are sorry to advise you that we will no longer be able to provide you with banking services … and … we will not be revisiting this decision.
Jumio
The HSBC website incorporates a Jumio documents upload page.
Further reference to the HSBC letter reveals that “Jumio is an external company specialising in verifying the authenticity of specific documentation.”
Jumio, which is based in Palo Alto, California, “uses computer vision technology to verify credentials issued by over 200 countries in real-time web and mobile transactions. Jumio’s solutions are used by leading companies in the financial services, sharing economy, retail, travel and online gaming sectors.”
One of Jumio’s solutions is Netverify. This system “combines ID Verification, Identity Verification, and Document Verification for a complete solution to establish the real-world identity of consumers.” This product “integrates into websites, iPhone, or Android applications.” For ID verification, the customer scans their ID document, the ID is authenticated against security features, the customer’s facial image is compared with the face in the ID document, and biometric facial recognition ensures the person is actually present. Netverify utilises “advanced technology including biometric facial recognition and machine learning” in order that:
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