There are some 3 million compelling reasons for Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to roll out a national system of mandatory digital identity cards. That’s the number of signatures on a monster online parliamentary petition opposing his plan — announced in late September — even before an official consultation could begin. On a recent trip to India, Starmer pointed to that country's vast digital ID system as a "massive success,” taking in a visit to Infosys, one of the biggest providers of its architecture. Back home, the opposition is plainly formidable. Many countries with strong traditions of civil liberties have ID cards.
