Month: October 2025

It is only right and proper that those who have served their country are able to access the benefits and services which they so clearly deserve, which we all pay taxes to provide for them.

Grabbing headlines with the launch of ‘digital Veteran ID Cards’ so soon after Mr Starmer’s near-universally derided announcement of the digital ID card scheme may have made the Government seem a bit opportunistic, but these new ‘digital cards’ do also raise a few questions…

To be clear, the HM Forces Veteran Card has nothing to do with the proposed National Digital Identity Programme, except that the digital version of the card is a credential that can be stored in the government’s Black App*. It is unclear whether the new credential will follow the Government’s policy for other credentials and require the Black App because they will not allow it to be stored in your phone’s wallet of choice – it might not work like wallets you’re used to.

There has long been cross-party consensus around solving a very real problem; that those who have served in the military have limited ways to prove they have done so, and that some providing them with essential benefits and services have no way of checking. If a veteran found themself homeless and out on the street, even those who were trying to help them found no-one who would answer the phone and help.

Whether a homeless veteran who doesn’t have a phone – or a veteran who simply prefers not to use one – will be able to use their physical Veteran ID card to access all they are entitled to will be a test of exactly how “inclusive” the Government intends to be as it imposes a universal digital ID scheme grounded in Home Office culture and ‘Blair Thought’.

This same contrarian, paradoxical thinking would reduce every person in the country to the same lowest common denominator, all in the name of “inclusion”. British citizens being treated identically to migrants, making everyone’s rights and freedoms – as basic as earning a living, or renting or buying a place to live – contingent upon a Home Office policy of deliberate exclusion; the Hostile Environment foisted on us all, fuelled by a generation of fear and loathing. 

Ensuring there is a properly staffed 24/7 phone number that support workers can call (and printing that number on the HM Forces Veteran Card) would be far more flexible than enrolling tens of thousands into the digital ID scheme that works only how Government insists, in the name of “convenience” and “efficiency” that government getting into your life rarely delivers. Veterans know this better than most.

Veterans served their country; they served us all. Surely they deserve better than this?

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*The Government’s name and branding will vary over time as the implementation of ‘digital ID cards’ destroys each fresh brand, but eventually you will use your GOV.UK Login to access your GOV.UK Account – either online or via the GOV.UK App, which will also function as your GOV.UK Wallet. And then by default, the State (or your local petty bureaucrat) will expect you to have the Black App on your phone, i.e. in order to live your life, they will expect you to have their code running on your device.

For more on the history of this, see: https://medconfidential.org/2021/the-black-app/

Government replied to the petition commencing:

We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration, make accessing government services easier, and enable wider efficiencies. We will consult on details soon.

And they claimed that Jeremy Corbyn was an obsessed ideologue…

NO2ID looks forward to a genuine consultation without preconceived outcomes. And, given the scope of the ID scheme, the consultation really must include the devolved administrations. Those in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales may have something to say about its initial “BritCard” branding, so beloved of Mr Blair. Unfortunately, quotes from Labour’s Blairites confirm their belief that ideologues never listen. We shall see.

“To help tackle illegal migration” in this case means ‘papers’ being checked for everyone, treating British citizens in the same way we treat every other resident of the UK – lawful or unlawful – while limiting ways to access the public services that lawful residents pay for.

Mr Starmer’s initial announcement was limited to giving British citizens the ability to access the “share code” system already used by lawful migrants. There’s no need to have a digital ID cards database to give those who want one access to a share code from their Universal Credit account, their Passport, or from Driving License systems. Nothing about this system is required to “streamline the process for employers, driving up compliance” – it is simply about political will, and Mr Blair has decided what he wants from the current Government.

Primary legislation has to be written down, then debated, then passed, and only then implemented. We sincerely hope the Civil Service Code is being enforced, and that nothing ultra vires is being done in advance. (It’s possible Mr Blair admires multiple things about Mr Trump.)

The Database State never learns, though sometimes new people think it’ll be different if they’re the ones running the all seeing databases. In order to function, databases have to persist beyond any single administration. Databases degrade over time, and must be maintained to survive. Political winds can also change, of course – and hard drives can always be tossed into a grinder…

If you want to be seen as trustworthy, you must demonstrate that you are competent, honest, and reliable.

We have gone through the Government’s petition response section by section here.

NO2ID (www.no2id.uk) welcomes donations – and if journalists would like to check the facts before defaming people on TV, then NO2ID will always take that call. 

[Picture credit: SA Mathieson. If you want an image, please use this Creative Commons one.]

ID cards obsessive Tony Blair’s eldest son, Euan, runs an “Educational Technology” apprenticeship company.

Apprenticeships are a good thing. They help people, and we assume the success of his company means he runs it well – or at least, that has done so successfully for a number of years. 

Apprenticeships are one good way to learn new skills, and we would hope that any major UK Government scheme has space for apprenticeships.

Suggestions, however, that Blair Jr’s company will be running the proposed ID cards scheme are based on nothing more than fiction. Highly viral fiction maybe, but fiction nonetheless.

We won’t add to the onslaught of misinformation by linking to it, but if you encounter someone who has fallen for this line, please feel free to point them to this post.

It is possible, indeed likely, that the commercial suppliers of the ID cards scheme will employ some apprentices. If they do, some of those apprenticeships may or may not be facilitated by Blair Jr’s firm – as could be the case for any other firms who support young people into apprenticeships.

(The suppliers of the ID scheme will also buy things like coffee and laptops from other commercial suppliers, but those things are far less fun for clicks on twitter…)

People do all sorts of things to earn a living, to feed themselves and their families; singling someone out on the basis of a coincidental connection is both unfair and unwarranted.

Individuals make their own choices. And everyone deserves their fair chance to learn from the choices of their parents, or their grandparents.

As of the 5th October, the “do not introduce digital ID cards” petition has 2.8 million signatories and climbing.

Government has responded in writing, commencing with “We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament”.

We expect a debate in Parliament and the announced consultation in due course.

We go through the rest of their response here.

So Tony’s doing his ID cards monologue again.