Civil liberties campaigners will gather in Liverpool on Sunday to warn that the infrastructure for digital ID continues to expand despite the Government scrapping its proposed national scheme.
Campaign group Together will protest outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Sunday 27 September, calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to freeze the expansion of GOV.UK One Login and prevent “back-door digital ID”.
The protest will carry four principal messages:
- Freeze One Login
- Keep Our Phones Free
- No Digital Verification to Participate
- Stop Live Facial Recognition
As Labour gathered for its conference last year, then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that people would need a mandatory digital ID to prove their right to work.
Together mounted a major campaign against the proposal, which resulted in almost 60,000 people emailing their MPs. Some 500,000 campaign leaflets were also distributed across the country through a network of locally organised supporters.
After the Government dropped the compulsory element of the proposal, Together held simultaneous rallies around Britain on 25 April under the banner “Scrap Digital ID”.
On 20 July 2026, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that the national digital ID scheme would be scrapped.
Together welcomed the decision as an enormous victory for the millions of people who opposed the policy. However, as it warned at the time, the Government is continuing to develop GOV.UK One Login, the GOV.UK App and Wallet, as well as digital credentials including digital driving licences.
Together warns that, if these systems continue to expand without firm legal safeguards, they could gradually reproduce many of the features that people rejected – without any future system ever being formally called “national digital ID”.
GOV.UK One Login has expanded across more than 200 government services.
It has faced serious security allegations from senior civil service whistleblowers, who told ITV News that it was failing to meet minimum government cybersecurity standards. ITV also reported that, during a security exercise, testers given simulated access were able to reach sensitive parts of the system without triggering an alert.
Meanwhile, up to eight million people are now affected by mandatory Companies House identity-verification requirements. Although verification can be completed through an authorised agent (usually charging £60-£120), GOV.UK One Login remains the only available free route provided directly by the Government.
Together is calling for:
- an immediate freeze on any further rollout or expansion of One Login pending an independent National Audit Office review;
- parliamentary approval before One Login is expanded into additional areas;
- a statutory guarantee that digital identity will never become a compulsory condition of participating in society;
- free and genuinely equivalent non-digital routes to public services and government interactions; and
- a free offline identity-verification route for company directors and others affected by the Companies House requirements.
Alan Miller, co-founder of Together, said:
“Scrapping the national digital ID proposal was an enormous victory – but, as we warned, the infrastructure that could create digital ID by the back door is still being developed.
“One Login, the GOV.UK App and Wallet, digital credentials, online age checks and facial recognition must not be allowed to grow into a network of digital checkpoints across everyday life.
“That is why we are demanding that Andy Burnham freeze One Login now. There should be no further expansion until it has been independently reviewed, Parliament has properly scrutinised what has been built and how secure it is, and the law guarantees that nobody can be forced or financially pressured into using it. If One Login cannot meet those tests, its future should be reconsidered.
“The public rejected compulsory national Digital ID. The Government must respect the substance of that decision – not simply abandon the name while continuing to build the machinery.
“Nobody should be disadvantaged, excluded or charged more because they prefer – or need – to deal with government offline. Together’s proposed Digital Bill of Rights includes the principle that every person must have the right to participate in society without being compelled to verify their identity digitally.”
The campaign group is also raising concerns about government plans for device-level controls on phones and tablets. Digital Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced legislation intended to prevent children from taking, viewing or sharing nude images on their devices. Under the proposals, adults could be required to prove their age before switching off those protections.
Together argues that any such system must be subject to close parliamentary scrutiny, including how age will be established, what information will be collected and whether adults will increasingly have to pass identity or biometric checks to use their own devices without restrictions.
Together’s message is: “Don’t ID the Internet.” The group opposes age-verification systems that operate as identity checks, intrusive device-level surveillance and any requirement for adults to prove their identity in order to access the open internet.
The protest will also oppose the rapid expansion of police live facial recognition.
Recent Information Commissioner’s Office audits of five police forces resulted in 107 recommendations concerning police use of facial recognition technology, including recommendations relating to governance, lawful basis, security, accuracy and bias.
Alan Miller added:
“While this is all happening, live facial recognition is being rolled out without any proper public debate or scrutiny. Once again, this was not in Labour’s manifesto. A Prime Minister who received fewer than 25,000 votes is overseeing a transformation in Britain’s digital infrastructure – and in the relationship between the state and the individual – that could change the country forever.”
ENDS
