Newcastle Lib Dems Stand Firm Against Labour’s Digital ID Plans

The Liberal Democrats have voiced strong opposition to Labour’s plans to introduce a new digital ID system, warning that it threatens civil liberties and risks deepening inequality across the country.

Speaking at Newcastle City Council this week, Cllr Mark Mitchell delivered a powerful speech condemning the proposal and reaffirming the party’s long-standing stance against ID cards, a position they also held during previous Conservative attempts to introduce them.

Cllr Mitchell said that while many in Newcastle had recently come together to stand up to hate and defend human rights, the Labour government’s new ID scheme ran counter to those same values:

“We on this side of the chamber stand full-square against this measure – because it is wrong for the UK, wrong for Newcastle as a City of Sanctuary, wrong in 2006, wrong now, and it will continue to be wrong in the future.”

He warned that compulsory ID cards are tools of control, often used by authoritarian governments to monitor and restrict their citizens. Mitchell argued that law-abiding people in the UK have lived freely for decades without such a system, and that the proposal would unfairly burden vulnerable groups.

“My 83-year-old mother shouldn’t be forced to deal with a digital ID,” he said. “Those who can’t afford or don’t have a smartphone shouldn’t be left at a disadvantage.”

Mitchell also highlighted that the digital ID plan would do little to solve the issues it claims to address, instead creating new risks of exploitation and fear among disadvantaged communities.

“This isn’t a proportionate or workable solution,” he said. “It’s Keir Starmer reaching back to one of Tony Blair’s failed ideas because he has none of his own.”

Drawing a stark comparison to oppressive regimes, Cllr Mitchell warned against the emergence of a “papers please” culture, saying that digital ID checks would disproportionately target minorities, not the privileged.

He also pointed out Labour’s hypocrisy, noting that the party had strongly opposed the Conservatives’ Voter ID laws, yet now proposed something far more intrusive:

“This scheme is unnecessary, it will hit certain communities hardest, and it represents complete government overreach.”

The Liberal Democrats reaffirmed their commitment to protecting personal freedoms, privacy, and equality, vowing to resist the rollout of digital ID both locally and nationally.