Tony Blair’s long-pushed dream of ID cards may have been kiboshed thanks to one man’s chronic unpopularity.
Keir Starmer’s policy has collapsed in support (Image: PA)
A new poll has discovered that support for ID cards among Britons has completely collapsed – but only after Keir Starmer adopted it as his new flagship policy. Despite longstanding liberty concerns about the proposals when Gordon Brown attempted to introduce them in the late noughts, a sizeable amount of the public supported them.
In 2008, the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust found that the public was split 50:47 against their introduction. However by the early summer of 2025, net support had risen to a whopping 35%, prompting Downing Street to go for the eye-catching Tony Blair policy. But since Sir Keir unveiled the plans, that has dropped to a miserable -14%, with onlookers warning Keir Starmer’s unpopularity has destroyed support for the policy.
Keir Starmer has the ‘reverse Midas touch’ (Image: Getty)
With the Prime Minister now polling as the most hated Prime Minister since the 1970s, he has now been branded the man with the “reverse Midas touch”, a reference to the ancient Greek myth about a king who could turn things to gold.
Just 31% of of people surveyed after Sir Keir’s announcement say they are supportive of the scheme, compared to 45% against.
Of that 45%, feelings run strong for 32% saying they are “strongly opposed”.
More than 2.6 million people have now signed a parliamentary petition against their introduction, with more than 1 million in the first 12 hours alone.
The petition demands that the UK government immediately commits to not introducing the card, arguing it “would be a step towards mass surveillance and digital control, and that no one should be forced to register with a state-controlled ID system.”
The scheme has a wide range of frontline political opponents, including both Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage.
Nigel Farage has condemned the proposals (Image: Getty)
Luke Tryl, chief of polling firm More in Common, said: “Digital ID is not unpopular in principle. Earlier this summer, we found a majority support the policy.
“Yet in perhaps the clearest sign of the government’s low standing it now seems to be suffering from a reverse Midas touch: once the government announced the plans, support dropped.
“If the government is to rebuild support for digital ID it will have to start with making a clearer use case.
“The risk is that, in the face of organised opposition, a policy that had the potential to be popular now becomes another millstone for the government.”
At Labour conference this week, a former adviser to both the Prime Minister and Tony Blair warned that the plan could end up “dead in the water” within six months because Downing Street had failed to make a convincing case for them.
Writing for the Daily Express last week, Reform UK’s Nigel Farage said Labour’s plan for digital ID cards “will do nothing to combat illegal immigration. But it will give the state more power to control the British people.”
“Our country has never been a ‘Your papers, please’ surveillance society.
“What about our European neighbours, such as Germany and France, where there are ID cards and strict checks? It has made no difference at all to the immigration crisis there, and nor will it here.”
