Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been dealt another humiliating blow as GB News was interrupted for a breaking announcement
Miriam Cates challenges Wain on use of digital ID cards

GB News was interrupted for a breaking news announcement as backlash to Keir Starmer’s digital ID plans continues to grow. Keir Starmer has introduced a compulsory digital ID card scheme requiring every adult in the UK to carry identification as part of Labour’s efforts to tackle illegal immigration. But a petition calling for the plan to be scrapped has already surged past 700,000 signatures as growing criticism of the scheme intensifies.

Ryan Wain, Executive Director of the Tony Blair Institute, defended the plans on GB News, claiming a digital ID card makes life “incredibly difficult” for people living in the UK illegally. Wain was challenged by GB News presenter Miriam Cates, who said most people don’t have a problem proving their ID as they can use a driving license or passport when necessary.

 

Keir Starmer has faced further backlash to his plans to implement ID cards (Image: Getty)

Highlighting the dangers associated with implementing these cards, Cates continued: “The risks that come with this are phenomenal in terms of having all of someone’s data in the same place, it’s a potential for hacking, but also a future government to use it in quite an authoritarian way,” the presenter said.

Explaining that Tony Blair has been attempting to introduce ID cards for over 20 years, Cates suggested that Labour’s current push is motivated by immigration because it is a popular political issue at the moment.

“I disagree about people being happy to hand over their passports and driving license,” Wain said before arguing that a digital ID would provide all necessary information, such as verifying a person’s age when purchasing alcohol in a supermarket.

Cates was taken aback by the suggestion that ID cards would not only be required for employment but also used in everyday life.

“In the same way that a passport or driving license is, yeah, why not?” he responded.

Wain added: “I think the government’s right to alight the problem on legal migration. It’s a huge issue and we need to do whatever we can in order to stop it.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has dismissed the plans as a “gimmick that will do nothing to stop the boats”, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK branded them a “cynical ploy” designed to “fool” voters into thinking something is being done about immigration.