Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom has introduced a plan to create digital national ID cards for citizens. The plan isn't popular. File Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 26 (UPI) -- United Kingdom citizens and permanent residents will get digital ID cards that will make it easier to access health care, welfare, child care and other public services, the government said.
U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced the plan. But ID cards have been a contentious issue in the U.K. since the end of World War II. Civil rights campaigners argue it infringes personal liberty and puts people's information at risk.
An online petition on the parliamentary website saying the government should not introduce digital ID cards has gained nearly 900,000 signatures, The Guardian reported. More than 600,000 of them have been added since Thursday.
Petitions with more than 100,000 names get a debate in parliament, but it almost never changes the government's decisions.
