Reception
Many Labour MPs have opposed the policy because of concerns around the possible infringement of civil liberties. [13] [14] Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has stated her party would oppose mandatory ID cards. [15] Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called it an 'affront to our civil liberties'. [16] Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has stated he is 'firmly opposed' to the proposal, and that it 'will make no difference to illegal migration'. [17] Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said his party would fight the policy "tooth and nail", [18] comparing it to the abandoned mandatory ID card scheme of former Labour prime minister Tony Blair. [19] A petition against mandatory digital ID cards has reached over 2 million signatures as of 27 September 2025. [20] Big Brother Watch has described the plans for mandatory digital ID as "wholly unBritish" and creating a "domestic mass surveillance infrastructure", [21] and that they would be "uniquely harmful to privacy, equality, and civil liberties.". [22] Critics have also claimed that it is unlikely to stop small boat crossings. [23]
Nationalist leaders in Scotland and Northern Ireland have criticised the BritCard due to both concerns around civil liberties and also the potential for the card to force citizens to declare themselves as British. In September 2025, Scottish National Party (SNP) first minister John Swinney and Northern Irish Sinn Féin first minister Michelle O'Neill declared their opposition to the BritCard. [3] [24] Swinney said "people should go about their daily lives without such infringements" and said the BritCard appeared like an attempt to "force every Scot to declare ourselves British. I am a Scot." [3] O'Neill called the proposal an "an attack on the rights of Irish citizens" and the Good Friday Agreement, which allows citizens of Northern Ireland to legally identify as either British, Irish or both. [24] [25] In response, the UK Government said the card would respect the agreement. [25] Irish unionist parties also joined in their opposition to the policy, with Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson describing it as "yet another layer of bureaucracy for ordinary citizens" which will do "very little to stop illegal immigration" and a spokesman of the Ulster Unionist Party calling it "an excessive and ill-conceived initiative that compromises the fundamental right to privacy for law-abiding citizens". [25]
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