Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons said there was a lot of ‘nonsense’, ‘myths’ and ‘outright lies’ as he defended the Government’s controversial digital ID proposals
A Government minister has lashed out at “nonsense” “myths” and “outright lies” about digital ID.
Josh Simons denied ministers are plotting to build a “master database” as he defended the controversial project. The Cabinet Office minister came swinging for critics after nearly three million people signed a petition calling for the idea to be scrapped.
It came as MPs from all sides united to voice their opposition to the proposal, which has been championed by Keir Starmer. Mr Simons branded it a “vital public good” and said he was glad that the Government plans to bring it in.
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He told a Westminster Hall debate: “I want to build a system that helps people with the daily struggles they tell us about, and not the system that Whitehall thinks is best.
“Now, there’s also a lot of nonsense flying about in this debate. Some myths that we have failed to rebut, and some outright lies.”
During a tense debate which saw a member of the public thrown out for heckling MPs, ministers were warned digital ID could be vulnerable to hackers, open to abuse by future governments and would not tackle illegal working, as the Government claims.
The project was dismissed as a “dead cat”, with backbench Labour MPs among those calling on it to be scrapped.
Mr Simons shot back: “”We all, not, as many members have asked, creating a centralized master database.” And he went on: “There will be strict legal firewalls about what information can be shared where…
“ People will have more control over their data in this system than they have now, because people will be able to actively control what information is shared about them and by who.”
A public consultation has been launched on the proposals, which would see people forced to show digital ID to prove they have the right to work in the UK.
And supporters claim it would help people access more government services.
Mr Simons said: “My constituents come to me with stories about how they have to fight against the system to do things that should be easy, the social care or SEND system, registering for a school place or ordering a new bin, paying taxes or accessing benefits, opening a bank account or buying a home.
“ When millions of working people feel exhausted by making their household finances work or dealing with anti-social behavior in their town, the last thing they need is to feel passed from agency to agency, call centre to call centre, and from one form to the next.
“It does not have to be this way. All over the world, countries have introduced national digital credentials that give people more control over their public services and ensure that everyone can access those services more easily.
“It puts the state in your pocket like everything else we do – online banking, shopping, organizing community events, supporting our kids at school.”
He went on: ” Technology has dramatically improved how we go about our daily lives.
“I want government to have the tools to move at the same pace, whether it’s applying for a new passport, accessing support for your children, or proving who you are for a job.
“ The state should be working as hard as possible to make these things easy for you, not making you do the hard work.”
Tory Robbie Moore said digital ID could be a “true honeypot for hackers all over the world”.
And he added: “Once digital ID comes into force, no political party can promise its intentions will stay good forever.
“Put simply, an ID card gives the state permanent control, and I say no.”
And Your Party’s Jeremy Corbyn told MPs: “There’s a whole vein of thought across the country where people are feeling a quite reasonable sense of paranoia about the levels of surveillance under which they are under at the present time.”
Lib Dem Steve Darling said he hoped the Government would see the opposition as a “red card”, stating: “It will do nothing about the Russian threat. It will do nothing about the small boats across the water, and it will do nothing about fraud in the workplace.”
It was branded “dangerous” by Labour backbencher Imran Hussain, while Rachael Maskell said she was begging ministers from her party to stop.
However Labour’s Peter Prinsley – a supporter – said: “We should not forego the incredible benefits of digital ID because of the hypothetical chance at something we are against and can’t prevent might happen. And colleagues, those benefits would be incredible.
“Before entering this place, I was a surgeon for many years. The biggest problem I faced on a daily basis was accessing basic information about the patients. This is stored in piecemeal fashion across myriads of organizations. Now we could use digital ID to create a unified record and give this to the patients to control.”
And Labour MP Tony Vaughan said: “If the police need to probe the right to work. They have no ability to do that on the spot, and we need to be making it easier for the state to check rights to work.”
Earlier campaign group Big Brother Watch held a protest outside Parliament. Director Silkie Carlo said: “Plans for a mandatory digital ID would make us all reliant on a digital pass to go about our daily lives, turning us into a checkpoint society that is wholly un-British.
“Millions of people object to the plans, which have no democratic mandate and would result in an unprecedented assault on our civil liberties.”