The Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has claimed that it would be “common sense to move in the direction of digital IDs” as part of the nations efforts to fight the coronavirus.
Mr Blair went as far as to argue there should be a record kept by the government of those vaccinated against the virus.
UNN recently reported that HM’s Government recently set out plans to change laws to enable the use of digital identity across the United Kingdom.
Downing Street considering new digital ID cards for British citizens
During his time in office as Prime Minister, Blair launched a compulsory ID card scheme, however, it was later scrapped by the coalition government.
Speaking in BBC’s Newscast podcast, he said: “you’re going to want a record of the fact you’ve been vaccinated”.
“You’ll want a record kept by the government of who’s been vaccinated – this will be essential, again, to restoring confidence,” he added.
He argued that improvements in technology meant privacy issues “can be dealt with”.
“You don’t need a large amount of information,” he said adding: “People give a lot more information to their supermarkets than they do to the government.”
Responding to Mr Blair’s comments, Silkie Carlo, Director of Big Brother Watch – a civil liberties campaign group – warned: “The idea of digital ID and vaccination checks could easily lead to a health apartheid that few would expect of a democratic country.
“Digital IDs would lead to sensitive records spanning medical, work, travel, and biometric data about each and every one of us being held at the fingertips of authorities and state bureaucrats.
“This dangerous plan would normalise identity checks, increase state control over law-abiding citizens and create a honey pot for cybercriminals.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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