[maxcbc]

Its seen as setting up a system similar to national ID cards.

Weirdly National Insurance numbers are not always unique, and people can have more than one. Also while they are used by for tax and benefits (HMRC and DWP) other departments have a different ID number, the biggest being NHS numbers, military service numbers, passport numbers and driving license numbers (DHSC, MOD, Home Office, Department for Transport). So you’d need to unify it, under one of these, effectively creating a ‘National ID Number’, even if you don’t call it that it’d be spun as that by opponents (libertarians, big brother watch etc). You’re probably right in that the public probably aren't too worried about it, and would probably be appalled to see the waste that goes on as a result of it not existing. But politicians and parts of the media will get riled up by it.

[kwhitefoot]

> would probably be appalled to see the waste that goes on as a result of it not existing.

There's no probably about it. I breath a sigh of relief every time I get back home to Norway after visiting family in the UK (which I left 34 years ago). So much is just simpler here.