Former British Ambassador to Syria and Bahrain, and Workers Party deputy leader Peter Ford, delivers a bombshell speech at the freedom rally. He accuses the UK government of waging a "war against the British people," using counter-terrorism laws to "terrorize" dissenters and push through a "digital ID monstrosity." Calling for unprecedented unity across the political spectrum, Ford warns that the state has "woken a sleeping giant" of public resistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znN2huGgpU8

Starmer and his influencers know that mandatory digital ID will be regarded with deep suspicion by the majority of citizens. This is not surprising as all the services listed above could become conditional on presenting a digital ID. Making it voluntary is, therefore, a sensible first step on the road to introducing mandatory digital ID. A few years on and the government will come back with a proposal to ‘consolidate the success’ of voluntary digital ID by making it mandatory. At that point, the basic resources that a citizen needs to access vital services are dependent on the wish of the government. Withdrawal of one’s digital ID could be introduced either as a formal sanction or as ‘glitch’ that could be introduced into the ID of someone who the government did not approve of, such as a political dissident. An individual thus sanctioned could be denied access to legal services, social security, banking, health services, a passport, insurance, a driving licence and would thus be rendered helpless. How convenient for a government of control freaks.

Control over the lives of citizens in a form that no other state has yet been able to achieve would result from such a measure. Dissent and nonconformity could be dealt with at the click of a mouse. Britons ought to oppose this first step towards totalitarian control with all means at their disposal.