I have tabled a motion to the next Full Council on the issue of mandatory identify cards. If drawn for the 4th November meeting it will allow Councillors to air their views on the controversial topic send a message to the Government that the City says no to this Government overreach.

By way of background on 26th September, Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially announced his plan to introduce digital identification – the so-called Brit Card - as a means of combating illegal working, helping to secure UK borders, and modernise or improve access to public services.

However, critics point to many problems with these proposals. These are similar to concerns aired towards a previous Labour scheme before it was ultimately scrapped by the Coalition Government in 2010.

I detest this whole idea for several reasons:
There is no electoral mandate for such a fundamental change as it wasn’t in the Party’s manifesto.
The move threatens to erode personal privacy
The system could be vulnerable to hacking with all of our most confidential information in one place.
Such a central database risks creating a surveillance state, bureaucratic overreach or creep that will lead to ever greater intrusion into people’s lives.
This idea is alien to British culture and heritage - we have never been a ‘papers please’ country.
How much will this project cost - Government IT projects have a notorious tradition of massive overspend.
I also doubt that, even if introduced, the measures would achieve any of the stated aims.

In my opinion Labour have lost the plot on this policy initiative. It is a plan that is unnecessary as we already have plenty of acceptable forms of validating identification.

Such a scheme is unlikely to work because rogue employers simply bypass National Insurance requirements and will continue to do so under any new regulatory regime. We need better enforcement of existing regulations not additional central powers flowing to the Government.

This proposal must be resisted and, once again, defeated before it has been given an opportunity to take root in law.

I hope we will get the opportunity to make this case and persuade the city’s five MPs to back this critically important cause.