New polling from Tony Blair Institute and Yonder finds 43 per cent of public support introducing digital ID compared to 37 per cent who oppose.
‘What does the UK public think about digital ID?’
finds that views on value-for-money, convenience and potential to improve public services are the top drivers of opinion.
Narrative that ‘Britain has spoken against digital ID’ is false, says TBI Policy Director.
More Britons still support introducing digital ID than oppose it, new polling has shown.
Published today by the Tony Blair Institute in paper ‘What does the UK public think about digital ID?’, the research found that 43 per cent of respondents support the introduction of digital ID, compared with 37 per cent who oppose it.
The report, which revisits participants in the Institute’s March 2024 digital ID survey, finds that while support has reduced, public opinion on the issue is highly nuanced and attitudes are not fixed. This finding contradicts the claims of digital ID opponents that the UK public is strongly opposed to its introduction.
Around one in five people are undecided, and net support increased significantly when respondents were presented with credible use cases for the technology – including among those originally opposed.
The polling found that many respondents struggle to identify benefits of digital ID unprompted and can more readily articulate risks. Immigration control was the most commonly named benefit, identified by 8% of respondents, with greater efficiency named by 6%, while the most named risk – security – was given by 24%. Risks related to personal freedom, despite their prominence in the media debate, were only named by 5% of respondents.
The research also showed that support for digital ID fell the most among young people and those who get their news from social media and podcasts. Opposition to digital ID was strongly correlated with low trust in traditional state institutions, while majorities among supporters of Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were in favour in digital ID.
The findings echo TBI’s previous analysis in paper ‘Disruptive Delivery’ of a new political divide emerging between those who maintain belief in the political system and those who have all but given up on it.
An analysis of the key drivers of public opinion found that the top factors shaping perceptions of digital ID were whether respondents believed that digital ID would deliver long-term value for money, felt that it was an inevitable feature of a modern, digital society and expected it to make daily tasks simpler, faster or more convenient.
The report’s authors suggest that the government should use the upcoming consultation period to focus the conversation on how a national digital ID scheme should deliver those benefits.
Alexander Iosad, Director of Government Innovation Policy at TBI and a co-author of the report, said:
“Digital ID’s opponents have repeatedly told us that ‘Britain has spoken’ and rejected this policy outright. Today’s polling shows this isn’t true.
“The louder voices in this debate do not represent the whole country. The real challenge is not overcoming hostility but earning trust in delivery.
“Much of the public continues to hold the common-sense view: open-minded, but cautious. People want digital ID to deliver value-for-money, a modern experience and better interactions with government – supported by a secure system with clear safeguards.
“If those conditions are met, digital ID can become the bedrock of a new generation of public services. The government should use the recently-launched consultation to build a broad, durable national consensus on a British model of digital ID as a common-sense solution to everyday problems – it is an opportunity that must not be missed.”