Speeches by Kendall.

“Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, that is definitely the first time I have been called a big fat socialist. [Laughter.] The hon. Lady asks how it will help crack down on illegal immigration. Making ID mandatory and digital will really help us to get, much more swiftly and automatically, more actionable intelligence about rog…”

“My hon. Friend has a huge amount of experience on this issue; I look forward to discussing it with her. The only area where we are proposing the digital ID to be mandatory is for right-to-work checks. [Interruption.] No, we are not proposing it to be mandatory for any other area. I believe that as people start to see t…”

“I can.”

“There will not be surveillance, and we are not proposing that it will be mandatory to access all different types of services. That is just a wrong characterisation of what we are proposing.”

“No.”

“I agree with my hon. Friend that this could give people more power and control over their data—who sees it and who uses it—as well as all the other benefits he rightly set out.”

“Yes.”

“It will be across the United Kingdom. As the right hon. Gentleman said, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital Government and Data was in Northern Ireland just last week, and he also visited and talked to members of the Irish Government. The Good Friday agreement and the common travel area are absolutely sacrosa…”

“I am sure that my hon. Friend will send me the results of her survey, and I will look through them in detail. I believe that if we can show people that the Government are changing, and that we are working around them and meeting their needs and concerns, that will be one of the ways in which we can build trust, and tha…”

“I hope that I have explained why digital ID needs to be mandatory for right to work checks, and the benefits of that as one part of a toolkit of things to crack down on illegal immigration. Making sure that vulnerable people—those who do not have smartphones or tablets, or the skills—have access is extremely important …”

“Absolutely. That is one of the issues that has already been raised with me directly, along with people who are homeless, women who may be fleeing domestic violence, people who do not have access to broadband, and a whole range of other issues. We will work closely with the groups that work with care leavers, but obviou…”

“I do not really know what the question was there.”

“No, that is not what it will mean. The specific question was whether there would be sanctions or penalties on a person for not having one, and I said, “No, there won’t.” As is the case now, if an employer has not done the required checks, it can face a civil penalty of up to £60,000 for each individual worker or, for a…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her question. We also need to look at the potential benefits of this policy in savings from cracking down on fraud and making services more effective and efficient. Clearly, the eventual cost will depend on the design and build of the system, which is what we are consulting on. I am sure that…”

“At the risk of repeating myself, I think that trying to get Government services to talk to one another and work more effectively is what people want. The right hon. Gentleman raised the issue of action on illegal immigration. The Home Secretary has made it clear that she will do whatever it takes to secure our borders.…”

“We have considered all those different aspects. It is right for the Prime Minister to say that it should be mandatory for right-to-work checks by the end of the Parliament to prove a person’s right to be here and to work. I also believe that as we develop it and show the benefits for many other aspects of daily life, f…”

“We have a £9.5 million digital inclusion fund that will support local organisations with grants of between £25,000 and £500,000 to help specific groups of people who are currently digitally excluded, to ensure that they can get the benefits of all manner of different private and public sector services that are availabl…”

“I absolutely do. The countries that have introduced digital ID have found that it helps to tackle fraud. People can lose forms of identity and they can be used by other people. The scheme will help to tackle that problem as well as make services more effective and efficient.”

“The hon. Gentleman and I agree on a football club, but it would appear that we do not agree on digital ID. As the hon. Gentleman knows, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts visited Northern Ireland last week. We will work through all the different institutions. I want to be very cle…”

“I think there is a lot of misinformation out there about this proposal. It is not about surveillance; it is not about a police state—the police will not be able to stop people and require them to show their digital ID. In many other countries where such a scheme has been used, it has been about making the Government an…”