Reconsider ID cards for all citizens after Brexit, says thinktank
2 min read
Plans to given settled EU citizens a unique number after Brexit should be rolled out to UK nationals in the form of an identity card system, a report has recommended.
The Government is set to register the 3.8 million people from the continent living in Britain after the UK leaves the EU, and experts have said the scheme could be promoted more widely to help tackle illegal immigration.
The report by Policy Exchange, a right-of-centre think tank, says Brexit, the scale of illegal immigration and the need to avoid a repeat of the Windrush scandal means a national identity system should be looked into.
The Windrush scandal saw migrants from Commonwealth countries - who had permission to settle in the UK - wrongly threatened with deportation, the loss of their jobs, and others were denied benefits and healthcare on the NHS.
Sajid Javid has already announced that EU citizens already living in Britain must pay £65 and join a registration scheme if they want to stay in the UK post December 2020.
The idea of a national ID system for British citizens has been controversial for years however, with many opposing it on civil liberties grounds.
A £5bn national identity card scheme was introduced by Blair government in 2006, but then Home Secretary Theresa May abolished it in 2010.
Other ideas put forward by Policy Exchange include reducing the cost of citizenship application fees and an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been in the UK for 10 years or more.
The group also call for a more decisive removals process of failed asylum seekers, that gets people out before they can judicially review their cases.
David Goodhart, the think tank's head of demography, immigration and integration said: “We strongly recommend reopening the debate about ID management to reassure people we know who is in the country, for how long, and what their entitlements are.
“Illegal immigration fosters a twilight world of criminality in which modern slavery flourishes. A national ID system would have prevented the harassment of Windrush victims.”
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