Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 7 April 2026.
Baroness Uddin
Non-affiliated
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards will be put in place to protect the right to refuse a digital ID.
Lord Collins of Highbury
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip), Lords Spokesperson (Equalities)
We want people to have the option to use the digital ID to make their lives easier. There will be no legal obligation for people to have or present the national digital ID. If someone does not want a digital ID they will not have to get it.
Legislation on the digital ID will be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny in the usual way. Any changes to the scope of this legislation after it passes would need further parliamentary scrutiny.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
