'Stop Digital ID' petition blows past 2 millions signatures

On 26 September, Keir Starmer announced that his historically unpopular Labour government was resurrecting Tony Blair’s failed Digital ID policy. It was hard to see what could go wrong: the least trusted people in parliament pushing through the most suspicious policy for the least credible reasons. Despite this, the petition to stop Digital ID is already one of the most signed in UK history at over two million signatures:

Keep this number in mind, because we’re going to show you how much that went up by between us starting and finishing this piece.

Debate incoming on Digital ID thank to the petition

The text of the petition reads:

We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.

We think this would be a step towards mass surveillance and digital control, and that no one should be forced to register with a state-controlled ID system. We oppose the creation of any national ID system.

ID cards were scrapped in 2010, in our view for good reason.

The petition is hosted on the UK Government and Parliament site. We have a system in the UK where any petition which reaches 100,000 signatures on the official site must be debated in Parliament, meaning there is some genuine weight to this.

As far as we can tell, the petition is currently the fourth largest in history, with the top three being:

6.1 million: Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU.
4.1 million: EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum.
3 million: Call a General Election.

‘Call a General Election’ relates to the current Starmer government, and was debated in January this year. The government did not decide to dissolve itself in response, but they have done an excellent job dissolving their credibility ever since.

Having breezed past two million, this is clearly a huge issue for the British public. Elements of the media are having a hard time grasping this monumental backlash, however:

So the vast majority don’t?

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) September 26, 2025

Journalist Lewis Goodall doesn’t seem to understand that petitions aren’t mass participation events like elections, so you would never expect to see a majority of the country signing one. That’s us being charitable, by the way, as Goodall has also been pulled up for this:

Anyone covering/interested in digital ID would be well advised to look for insight on it anywhere but X. Yet another example of where this site/online right opinion is fevered/way off the beat with the public.

Guess who need digital/reliable ID most? Those in poverty.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) September 26, 2025

Digital ID is backed by Tony Blair and and mega-billionaire Larry Ellison, with the New Statesman recently looking at the unseemly links between these people and the Starmer government:

INSIDE THE TONY BLAIR INSTITUTE with @LHreports, @PeterKGeoghegan and @maybulman

Since 2021, Larry Ellison’s personal foundation – the Larry Ellison Foundation – has donated or pledged at least £257m to the Tony Blair Institute, making it a think tank like no other in the UK.… pic.twitter.com/xsOM09MyJb

— The New Statesman (@NewStatesman) September 25, 2025

Historic moment

As we noted in a recent piece, the agreement between the British left, right, and centre on this issue is unprecedented in modern history. Combined with the massive public backlash, it would be difficult for any prime minister to push through Digital ID. Starmer isn’t just any PM, though: he’s the most unpopular PM since polling began. Given that, this petition is likely to be the last time anyone signs up to anything with Keir Starmer’s name on it.

Oh, and the petition has already grown by this much by the way: