[tomaytotomato]

You just cherry picked two examples which are not issues in other countries with ID cards.

ID cards can prove who is an illegal immigrant or not, and with the current atmosphere. I want to know and be confident that we can check people's status efficiently and correctly who's here.

Sure there might be some small process mishaps but for the safety of the nation, it is worth it.

[arethuza]

"but for the safety of the nation, it is worth it"

That's a pretty chilling phrase.

[lyu07282]

UK politics is very simple: People have a lot of economic grievances and they are frustrated. People are made to believe that the source of their problems are immigrants/non-white people. So for a lot of people in the UK, anything against immigrants, even more drastic measures, are worth it and it makes the government appear to do something about their problems. Nothing ever really gets better of course, but they have no way to think about it any other way.

[HK-NC]

Fair to add that, despite every winning party promising reduced immigration on some level, and everyone that wanted to remain in the EU rightfully annoyed that Brexiters were simply voting because of migration, nobody in power has ever given the people what they want in this regard.

[lyu07282]

It doesn't really matter, people's grievances won't go away because those have nothing to do with immigrants anyway. They will just move on to the next scapegoat.

[TheOtherHobbes]

And no one will, because the UK wants cheap foreign labour. To no one's surprise, immigration rocketed after Brexit.

This allows the ruling party - the one whose names and faces keep changing, but whose policies don't - to keep using immigration for political leverage while also benefiting from it.

[owisd]

> nobody in power has ever given the people what they want in this regard

Net migration in the UK dropped by 400,000/yr in the last year and they’ve toughened the criteria further so seems unlikely it won’t drop further.

[the_other]

I don't think you mean "for the safety of the Nation". I think you mean "for my piece of mind my business is unlikely to get caught in a sting operation".

[pjc50]

Everyone knows that none of the countries with mandatory ID have any illegal immigrants, right?

(sarcasm, obviously)

[mytailorisrich]

I did not cherry-pick anything.

Anyone who is a legal immigrant can easily prove it and must prove it to live and work in the country. So what does that make anyone who cannot prove it?

The point is that digital IDs make no difference to illegal immigration, as can also be seen in countries that do have ID cards...

[boomskats]

> Sure there might be some small process mishaps but for the safety of the nation, it is worth it.

Just like that database that recognises your face and links it to your pornhub preferences is worth it, for the safety of the children?