Digital ID

Claire Young Excerpts

Monday 8th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. Some 4,497 of my constituents signed the petition, and I thank the many who took the time to write to me to explain their concerns. They believe that a mandatory digital ID threatens our right to privacy while doing nothing to address the Government’s stated aims of immigration enforcement. The huge response to the petition should give the Government pause for thought. It is not too late to listen to the concerns and to think again.

We operate in a world in which ownership, control and manipulation of data is central to our lives. A real concern is that mission creep will lead to more and more online actions requiring a check, creating a digital treasure trove about each and every one of us that could be misused by the state and other actors. As one constituent put it:

“Do we want every single thing we attempt to do to require a check that ‘yes, you are a British citizen, let me just link this to you as well’?”

Many constituents pointed out that documentation is already required to work legally, but that is flouted by those operating in the dark economy. My constituents do not believe that a new ID system will solve the issue. They see it as a distraction or a diversion of money and effort from the real solution, which is better investment in enforcement. I agree: an ID scheme would cost billions, which is money that could be better spent on processing centres to clear the asylum backlog. That would do far more to restore public trust in the immigration system, if that is the issue, and still leave money to fix the public services so damaged by the previous Conservative Government.

My constituents are also concerned about the safety of our data, especially with a rushed implementation. If we create a platform that stores millions of people’s personal ID, we create a target for those who would illegally access and misuse that data. One constituent urged me to vote against digital IDs until the Government can

“show that the data of its citizens, who it claims to represent, will be safe”.

I doubt that any such guarantee will be forthcoming.

Many were concerned that the work would be outsourced to a third-party company. When we interact with a commercial service, we make a choice; mandatory ID would give up that choice. With more time, I could talk about the worries for the digitally excluded, who already face higher costs for commercial services. Will they now also miss out on Government support and services?

Digital tools should empower individuals, not give Government more control. A mandatory ID scheme in which people have no choice is totally at odds with Britain’s long history as a liberal democracy.

G20 and Ukraine

Claire Young Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Will my hon. Friend please pass a message back to them to say, “Thank you for raising this”? It is important that they have done so. The fact that they raised it with him means that it has now been raised through him on the Floor of this House, so they are directly inputting into our democracy and accountability. I assure them that we are working with partners to bring about an end to the appalling situation in Sudan. It has been the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world not just in recent days and weeks, but for a very long time—it is simply worse and more intense. Will he reassure the students that we are doing everything we can with partners to bring an end to this awful situation and thank them for their input?

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

The Prime Minister referred to Putin’s barbaric attacks on civilian energy infrastructure. What discussions has he had with his G20 counterparts about learning from Ukraine’s experience to protect energy supplies and infrastructure from hostile Russian action?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising that issue. The attacks on energy supplies are intended to inflict damage on civilians in Ukraine, as they do on a regular basis, particularly as we go into the winter. We are doing two things: we are working with the Ukrainians on what more support we can give them to safeguard their energy supplies, and of course with allies we are looking at whether there are any issues we need to address in relation to any vulnerabilities we may have.

Official Secrets Act Case: Witness Statements

Claire Young Excerpts

Thursday 16th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Ward]

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying, the Prime Minister said yesterday, and the Security Minister said on Monday.

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Notwithstanding the decision to drop this case, it is clear that China is trying to undermine our democracy. Will the Government include all Chinese officials, Hong Kong special administrative region officials and Chinese Communist party-linked organisations on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme?

[Chris Ward]

I am afraid that I am not across the specific of that in my brief, so I will get back to the hon. Lady.

Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Young Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

For far too long, crimes such as shoplifting have been written off as “low level.” That is wrong; such crimes are devastating. The Conservative party left us with rising crime and effectively told the police to ignore shoplifting of under £200-worth of goods. We have got rid of that shoplifters’ charter, and we are working hard to ensure that we take a grip where they lost control.

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Q7. Following the earlier question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), I want to raise an equally troubling case. My constituent retired from the police force to care for his wife, working a part-time job to help pay the bills. As his earnings were not consistent, there were times when he was above the carer’s allowance threshold, causing later payments to be withheld. He is now owed thousands of pounds, and recently he was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma, which has made the situation even more serious. Will the Prime Minister agree to look at the situation and ensure that the Department for Work and Pensions supports rather than penalises carers?

[The Prime Minister]

Again, we have obviously set up the independent review into exactly what happened in those cases, which was the right thing to do. We will look at individual circumstances, so if the hon. Member is willing to pass the details to me, we will look at them.

Storm Darragh

Claire Young Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

I have been very concerned about this issue, particularly as part of our work on resilience looking at who may be affected, including vulnerable people and those who may become vulnerable as a result of extreme weather. Local resilience forums have also been looking into this issue. We are working closely with Welsh local authorities and the Welsh Government on how these issues can be addressed.

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Storm Darragh is the second serious storm to hit my Thornbury and Yate constituency in recent weeks; it came soon after Storm Bert, which caused serious flooding disruption. I thank everyone involved in the response. These storms are not going away; owing to the impacts of climate change, they are likely to get worse. We need a clear framework for local authorities, so that they know when they will get support and what that support will be. Can the Minister please provide some clarity on that?

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

We work very closely with the devolved Administrations, local resilience authorities and emergency responders regularly on how we can address this issue. The UK Resilience Academy will be launched in April next year, and it will be a great way for us to look at the lessons learned and at how we can strengthen our responses to such issues.