(MENAFN) UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched a fresh defense of his embattled digital identification initiative Friday, pledging the system will streamline daily transactions and enhance citizen autonomy amid escalating backlash over surveillance fears and implementation expenses.

The digital ID blueprint—unveiled last month—has triggered substantial resistance, with detractors branding it evidence of Starmer's "reverse Midas touch."

A staggering 2.9 million citizens have endorsed a petition rejecting the scheme, while More in Common polling data reveals a dramatic sentiment shift: net approval plummeted from positive 35% during early summer to negative 14% post-announcement, marking the first time opponents outnumbered supporters.

Yet Starmer maintains the program will propel Britain forward while dismantling administrative inefficiencies.

"Digitization has already transformed so many parts of our lives – from how we shop, travel and bank," he declared in a Thursday statement. "But there's so much more we can do to make people's lives easier, simpler and more secure."

"The digital ID is about putting power back in people's hands, cutting the faff out of rummaging through drawers for documents and pointless bureaucracy we have accepted for too long while bringing Britain into the modern age," he emphasized.

"This can be a boarding pass to getting on in life, helping people get a bank account, apply for a job or access childcare. Countries across the world are reaping the benefits of digital IDs, the British public should be able to as well," he added.

Government officials indicate digital IDs would be distributed to every British citizen and lawful resident, enabling individuals lacking passports or driver's licenses to verify identity electronically for employment applications, banking services, or mortgage approvals—eliminating physical documentation requirements and private verification fees.

Starmer attempted to dispel anxieties that digital IDs might become mandatory for vital services, stressing "the identification system would never be needed to get into hospital."

These guarantees haven't silenced opposition voices challenging the measure.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson told the Guardian on Thursday: "Keir Starmer is trying to put lipstick on a very expensive pig. Relaunching this scheme for the second time this month won't change the fact it is intrusive, expensive and unnecessary."

The dispute underscores a profound fracture in public sentiment regarding technological efficiency versus individual privacy, as the UK government advances its agenda to "bring Britain into the modern age."

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