Tag Archives: Digital ID cards

10 October 2025 – today’s press releases (part 1)

  • Ed Davey vows to defend Bank of England against Farage’s threats to its independence after meeting with Andrew Bailey
  • Mandatory Digital ID for 13 year olds: “sinister, unnecessary, and a clear step towards state overreach.”
  • McArthur sets out amendments to assisted dying bill
  • Wishart submits 3,500-word ferry consultation response

Ed Davey vows to defend Bank of England against Farage’s threats to its independence after meeting with Andrew Bailey

This morning Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey and Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper met with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to reaffirm support for the bank’s independence. Commenting after his meeting, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said:

A fortnight ago, Nigel Farage stood on the steps of the Bank of England and showed just what a danger to our economic interests he is.

Once again putting his obsession with mimicking Donald Trump ahead of what is in the best interests of the British people, Farage attacked the independence of our central bank. Trump’s threats to sack governors of the Fed if they don’t do what he wants are causing economic panic in the United States. That is the last thing we need here at home – we cannot let Trump’s America become Farage’s Britain.

Liberal Democrats will stand firmly behind Bank of England independence, just as we have stood against recent attacks on the independence of our judiciary. Those who seek to plunge our country into chaos are no patriots – they are putting their own narrow political interests first. Instead of undermining Britain’s economic foundations, we need a real plan for growth that includes rebuilding trade with our European neighbours.

Mandatory Digital ID for 13 year olds: “sinister, unnecessary, and a clear step towards state overreach.”

Responding to reports that the Government is considering rolling out mandatory digital ID for those aged 13 and up, Victoria Collins, Liberal Democrat Science, Innovation & Technology spokesperson said:

This is proof that the Liberal Democrats were absolutely right to warn about mission creep.

The Government is already plotting to drag teenagers into a mandatory digital ID scheme before it’s even off the ground. It’s frankly sinister, unnecessary, and a clear step towards state overreach.

McArthur sets out amendments to assisted dying bill

Liam McArthur MSP has today lodged a number of amendments to his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill ahead of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee beginning their Stage 2 scrutiny of the Bill on 4th November.

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , , , and | 1 Comment

‘The future’s bright’ – be wary of futurology

Embed from Getty Images
The Soviet politburo member stands on a high pedestal above the vast crowd. ‘In the future’ he says ’there will be no hunger. In the future you will be able to eat as much as you wish’; adding  ‘Vast state farms will provide for your needs, and science will bring us new foods’. He waved at the sea of flags.

In Post-War USSR there were continuing food shortages, mostly due to the abolition of ‘politically threatening’ collective farms, in favour of larger state mega-farms. Those new state farms were catastrophically unproductive. ‘Artificial food’ factories stayed experimental.

I heard similar messianic speeches when I worked in an unreformed Belarus in the 1990s for President Lukashenka and Piotr Kapitula. They had a strangely familiar ring… Why tackle the nitty-gritty problems of the agriculture sector when you can paint a picture of a coming nirvana and plenty, subduing the ‘impatient’ masses.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Chloe
    Thankfully MPs have rejected Kim Leadbeaters awful bill. No amount of sending opponents on some guilt ridden trips with emotive stories can change the fact it w...
  • James Dennison
    Thanks David. I certainly didn't mean to imply that the UK begins and ends with England — rather, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already have substantia...
  • James Dennison
    Thanks Jana. My instinct would be to approach this from the other direction: rather than create a new English Parliament to exercise the powers currently exerci...
  • Jana
    “ Give England institutional expression” Just ‘institutional expression’? Unless it is viewed as acceptable that criminal laws in England, for exampl...
  • David Raw
    Professor Dennison write, "England does not need another large parliament or bureaucracy"..................... and goes on continually refer to England. Writ...