UK - Digital ID Card Watered Down

The British government has watered down plans for mandatory digital identification cards, a contentious idea it had touted as a way to help control immigration.

Officials confirmed that it won’t be compulsory for citizens and residents to show a digital ID card in order to get a job, ditching a key plank of the policy announced in September.

Starmer announced in September that “you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It’s as simple as that.”

He faced an immediate backlash, with polls suggesting support for digital ID plummeted after Starmer backed the idea.

Britain has not had compulsory identity cards for ordinary citizens since shortly after World War II, and the idea has long been contentious. Civil rights campaigners argue it infringes personal liberty and puts people’s information at risk.

-apnews.com, 14 January 2026

Commentary: Illegal immigration and crime are often blamed for the ills of a functioning society. That, however, is not new but has always been the case. Yet facts show a quite different picture.

Take, for example, foreign-born population. The super-rich countries seem to have a larger percentage: Luxembourg at 51.2%, Switzerland 28.8%, New Zealand 28.2%, Canada 23%, and the UK lower down the list at 17.1% (the US 15.2%).

The prophetic Word has this to say: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17).