To those who hope that the ‘Brit Card’ digital ID scheme will, as Keir Starmer promised, serve as a check on immigration, I bring bad news. We immigrants, documented and undocumented, will figure it out; it is the Brits who will suffer the most.
I say this as a journalist who spent close to a decade investigating the many drawbacks, data leaks, and mis-applications of Aadhar, India’s vast and controversial biometric database, which Starmer’s government approvingly and misleadingly endorsed in its press release announcing Brit Card.
The UK government claims that rolling out Aadhar has saved India’s government over $10bn each year – an oft-repeated but never proven claim that has been endlessly criticised as incorrect. Its press release echoes the well-trodden fantasies of those who support unified identity schemes, stating that Brit Cards will save time, reduce reliance on messy paper documents, simplify access to government services and digital wallets, offer state-of-the-art security and encryption, strengthen borders and help to crack down on illegal migration.
