MOTION WORDING

The following Notice of Motion has been submitted by Councillor Tutt and seconded by Councillor Field.

 

Council notes the recent announcement by Keir Starmer’s Labour Government of plans to introduce a Digital ID scheme for UK residents.

Council further notes that the Government’s plan whilst no longer intended to be mandatory would be a key channel for residents to obtain access to public services and entitlements.

This could risk disenfranchising millions of people, particularly older people, those on lower incomes, or those without access to digital technology.

This raises significant privacy and civil liberties concerns.

This could result in billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being wasted on a massive IT project, (current cost estimates are £1.8bn) with no clear benefit or safeguards.

Council believes that Labour’s scheme:

• Represents an expensive measure that will undermine public trust;
• Will do nothing to address the real priorities facing communities such as the lack of economic growth that our country is facing, the cost-of-living crisis that residents in East Sussex are experiencing, or the problems within public services that have been refused the investment that they need to deliver;
• Fails to protect our core British values of liberty, privacy and fairness.

Council welcomes the Liberal Democrats’ consistent national opposition to Labour’s ID cards, having previously defeated Labour’s original plans for ID cards in 2010, and opposes Labour’s renewed attempt to introduce them in digital form.

 

This Council resolves:

1. To formally oppose the Labour Government’s Digital ID plans;
2. To request the Leader of the Council writes to:

·         The Secretary of State for the Home Office and the Minister for Digital Infrastructure expressing this council’s firm opposition to Labour’s Digital ID system and calling for the plans to be scrapped.

·         Members of Parliament across East Sussex asking for their firm commitment to oppose Labour’s Digital ID system and ask them to confirm that they will instead advocate for the cost to be diverted in to settling SEND deficits nationally.

3. To work with local voluntary, digital inclusion and civil liberties groups to ensure that no resident in East Sussex is penalised or excluded as a result of any national identification scheme.