NI numbers already exist... so what’s the real purpose of Digital ID?

PLUS: We outline what happens if you refuse

By Gary Chappell

MARK the date: September 26, 2025. He finally said it. Keir Starmer wants every adult in Britain to carry a “mandatory digital ID”, saying: “Without it you will not be able to work in the United Kingdom.”

Remember, he says this will “stop boats crossing the Channel”.

But here’s just one of the many problems: we already have National Insurance numbers. Every UK citizen already has a lifelong identifier that proves their right to work and ties them into the tax system.

Employers already have to check passports, visas and NI details. The Home Office already runs digital right-to-work systems. Nothing about this is broken. So why the push for something new?

Because an NI number is static. It’s issued once, it doesn’t expire and it can’t be “switched off”. It’s an administrative record, not a control mechanism.

A digital ID, by contrast, is dynamic. It can be checked in real time. It can be tied into multiple systems. And crucially – it can be revoked.

That’s the real difference.

With a mandatory digital ID, your access to society becomes conditional. This is not paranoia. This is not a “conspiracy theory”. This is exactly what the architecture allows. Once you build the digital gate, someone controls the lock.

And then there’s the link to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The Bank of England is openly exploring a retail CBDC. How would they identify users? A national digital ID is the obvious choice. Combine the two and suddenly your money is programmable. Bought too much beef this month? Transaction blocked – climate change, you understand. Travelled too often? Flight booking denied.

Your ID won’t just prove who you are – it will govern what you’re allowed to do.

We’re told “alternatives will exist” for those without smartphones. Don’t believe it. History shows those options shrink over time until they vanish. It won’t be a knock on the door with handcuffs. It’ll be soft coercion. Life will just get harder and harder until you comply. No ID, no job, no bank account.

What happens if you refuse?

• Jobs → Employers will be legally bound to check digital ID for “Right to Work”. Without one, you can’t be hired.

• Housing → Landlords will have to check “Right to Rent” through the same system. No ID, no tenancy.

• Banking/Finance (future expansion) → If tied to CBDC or bank accounts, refusal could mean no access to mainstream payments.

• Healthcare & Services (if expanded) → GP registrations, prescriptions and public services may require verification. Refusal could mean exclusion.

• Travel & freedom of movement → Digital ID could be used for domestic zones [15-minute cities] or international flights. No scan, no go.

You won’t be dragged to prison for refusing. But you will face soft coercion: life gets harder until compliance is the only way to function.

But millions of people have already begun pushing back. A petition against Digital ID has already received more than one million signatures. There is a protest scheduled to take place in London on Sunday, September 28. And another next month.

Rupert Lowe MP has written to Keir Starmer outlining his and other MPs’ concerns at the dystopian announcement.

To illustrate how these schemes escalate, initially Starmer said the Digital ID will be used only to allow people to work in the UK. But by 4pm on Friday, September 26, this had grown to the Government saying that, “in time”, the mandatory biometric digital ID will be used for renting, benefits, banking, age ID, nurseries, education, even voting.

David Davis MP is also against it, saying: “The Government’s plan for mandatory digital ID must be stopped in its tracks. In the PM’s own book, he discusses Article 8 of the ECHR: The right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.”

And former MP Lembit Opik says: “Keir Starmer’s digital ID cards: a plague on privacy. Do not comply: protest and survive. By claiming illegal migrants (who can’t speak English and come with no papers to work illegally in the black economy for cash) are deterred by a digital ID card makes Keir Starmer the laughing stock of British civic society.”

Yes it does. And also the most dangerous man in it.

Sign and share the petition against a mandatory Digital ID: HERE.