Digital ID: Scheme will comply with Belfast Agreement to ensure UK-wide application, but key questions remain

However, details about how precisely the scheme will work have not been nailed down – and the government has not ruled out Northern Ireland citizens being able to choose between using a UK or Irish digital identity.

​Labour’s ‘digital government’ minister Ian Murray spoke to the News Letter on a visit to Stormont on Tuesday, before heading to Dublin to consult the Irish government on its plans.

He said the scheme will “take into account the specific circumstances of Northern Ireland” – with the government citing the 1998 deal’s requirement for the recognition of both British and Irish identities.

Sir Keir Starmer believes the scheme will help tackle illegal immigration by making it harder for illegal migrants to work in the UK – but that claim has been rubbished by political opponents.

Ian Murray said there are already proof of identity requirements for people seeking work here – including from the Republic of Ireland – and the scheme would simplify the process.

He also revealed that the Irish government is looking at a similar scheme of its own. The European Union is currently providing a ‘digital ID wallet’ which member states must offer to their citizens.

Mr Murray said local parties have “legitimate concerns” about the scheme – which he said the government would address during the application process, including concerns about the ‘Brit Card’ label which he said had been wrongly attributed to the scheme.

Asked whether or not Northern Ireland will have the same scheme as the rest of the United Kingdom, the Minister for Digital Government and Data said it would.

“Absolutely, it will have. However, the scheme will be designed to take into account the uniqueness of Northern Ireland. The Common Travel Area being one, the Good Friday Agreement being the other, the Windsor Framework.

“So all of those will underpin the system that’s designed – that allows the system to be UK wide, but will also take into account the specific circumstances of Northern Ireland”, he said.

Asked if it would look the same in the province as the rest of the UK, the minister said: “I don't know. You might even be able to design it yourself, depending what the system looks like. So the principle is that it will be digital.

“It'll be on your smartphone, and you will use that to verify your identity, whether it be your nationality, your right to work and your age, for example. So there's a whole host of uses beyond the initial one that the Prime Minister set out”.

Asked if Northern Ireland citizens will be able to choose whether they sign up to a UK or Irish digital ID scheme, the minister said “that would be part of the consultation, which is why we're trying to understand those intricacies”.

“Obviously, under the Good Friday Agreement, somebody who resides in Northern Ireland can identify as Irish, and therefore that will all have to be taken into account by the system.

“But again, I go back to the fact that the current system does that already, because they have to still prove they have the right to work in the United Kingdom by using their current identity under the Good Friday Agreement, so that would have to be taken account in the digital ID system. So we're really mandating and digitizing a process that already happens”, Mr Murray said.

On the blanket rejection of the proposals by local political parties, the minister said: “Firstly, the reaction of all the parties here is understandable, because they have legitimate concerns, which is why we're here to engage, but also the consultation is designed to address some of those big issues.

“Secondly, I would be very, very clear that the Common Travel Area and the Good Friday Agreement are sacrosanct, and therefore the system will have to be designed to take that into account…

“The third thing is, we're here engaging now because we wanted this [to happen] before the consultation rather than after it. The consultation is designed to address these issues, and therefore you would then have a system design – an operable system – and then you have a system that needs updated, because these are the kind of things that we have to address.

“People may be [in principle] against it, but I think a lot of the fears at this moment in time were based on the leak and the ‘Brit Card’ – and not the actual system that's being looked at”.

The UK government delegation later met the Irish government to discuss the plans.