Protestor booted out of digital ID debate shouting ‘the people will not comply’

Security had to march a protester out of a parliamentary debate on digital IDs screaming ‘the people will not comply’.

Sir Edward Leigh, who was chairing the debate on the controversial policy, ordered security to remove her from the public gallery barking: ‘Don’t just stand there!’

Before being booted out she shouted at the panel of MPs to ‘listen to the people’ after a petition with 3,000,000 signatures demanded a halt to the initiative.

‘We don’t want this and we will not comply. The people say no.’

The policy aims to create a secure, digital way for British citizens to prove their identity and status, so like jobs, benefits) and reducing fraud.

But it was roundly torn apart from MPs from a cross-section of the parties.

Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘There’s a whole vein of thought across the country where people are feeling a quite reasonable sense of paranoia about the levels of surveillance under which they are under at the present time.”

Tory Robbie Moore, who opened the debate,the measure a ‘true honeypot for hackers all over the world’.

He added: ‘What is it about stopping the crisis of dinghies in the English Channel that requires your son, your daughter, your 90-year-old grandmother to hand over her data and facial geometry to a Home Office server?

‘Because this has nothing to do with stopping the boats at all. This is about more state government control.’

The debate came after a mob of Sir Keir Starmers surrounded Parliament today to put pressure on decision-makers.

Protestors from the Big Brother Watch, a UK civil liberties campaign group, marched around Parliament Square, wearing masks of Starmer’s face, holding placards of what a Digital ID would look like on your smartphone.

The protesters say they are fighting for a free future, determined to reclaim the public’s privacy and defend freedoms.

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, told Metro: ‘Nobody’s voted for this initiative. And now we have the fourth biggest petition in British history.

‘It’s the second biggest petition in British history that’s a non-Brexit petition, so this is something that has completely engaged and enraged the public.’

One key argument against Digital IDs includes the concerns surrounding privacy.

Matthew Feeney, advocacy manager of Big Brother Watch, told Metro: ‘The Digital ID would house troves of personal information that could be used or mandated by government for a whole swathe of public services.

‘That’s a concern for us, not just because we think it changes the relationship citizens have with the state in a very bad way, but also because it becomes an attractive target for foreign adversaries and criminal hackers.

‘The current government has a very, very bad track record when it comes to keeping data safe.’

Silkie described Digital IDs as the ‘antithesis of privacy’, where ‘our phones would be turned into potentially spy phones where we carry a digital pass in order to live our everyday lives.’

As they marched around the parliament building to Victoria Tower Gardens with their placards and masks, several people were cheering for their message, saying that they hate the initiative.

There were even a few laughs from people amused by the group of Keir Starmers.

Another issue raised by the group is that some people are ‘digitally excluded’ whether it is because of economic circumstances or by choice.

The government has not yet announced how it will mandate the scheme if people do not have the devices that work with the technology.

When the idea was announced, the government said it would be for used for right to work checks.

Silkie and the group believe it is a lie.

She told Metro: ‘This is an expansive, sprawling system that could be the beginning of a very intrusive surveillance system.’

‘If we live in a democracy, then the government will listen and we are hoping very much that’s the case.’

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