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WATCH: Sir Jake Berry hits out at 'disgraceful' plans for digital ID cards
Sep 25, 2025
Sir Keir Starmer's plans to impose digital ID cards on all British adults has sparked a fiery GB News row, as host Martin Daubney and Sir Jake Berry clashed with Labour Councillor Dominic Moffitt.Debating the proposed measure, Reform UK member Sir Jake Berry declared the move a "'real disgrace" which would "destroy so much of what matters to us".FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
That's the huge question. Let's bring in my panel now
0:01
I'm joined, of course, by Sir Jake Berry and Dominic Moffat. Sir Jake, I'll start with you, if I could
0:07
Is this a price worth paying for the greater public to control our borders
0:11
Absolutely not. So the question I ask myself is twofold. Number one, why should I have to change the way I live every single day of the week
0:19
to be stopped by police, which we know have been subject to massive overreach
0:23
in terms of taking civil liberties away from people, both during Covid, but actually much more recently with arresting people
0:29
for saying hurting things on the internet, stopped by the police and in a sort of, you know
0:34
Germany circa 1940 told to show my papers on the streets. Why should I be forced to do that
0:40
Because this government has failed to grip the issues of borders. This is fundamentally changing the way we live our life in Britain
0:48
And the real disgrace is to call it a Brit card when it's destroying so much of what matters to us here in the country
0:55
That's the first issue. The second issue is I fundamentally do not trust this government with my data
1:02
Now, people will say, of course, well, you give information to Facebook. You give information to whether online. Yeah, they don't let anyone steal it, because if they don't hold it, they don't have a business
1:12
The government is terrible at keeping our data safe. I don't trust them with my data
1:18
It will lead to wholesale problems in terms of your own data security
1:22
this is wrong for Britain, it's the wrong time, it's the wrong policy
1:27
And I'm sorry, if Starmer thinks this may be part of a new Keir Starmer reset
1:31
for the Labour Party conference, he is proving himself once again tin-eared
1:36
and not on the side of ordinary working people in this country. Dominic Moffat, you're rolling your eyes at quite a lot of that there
1:41
Tell us why you think this is a good idea. Well, I'm interested to hear GB News describing illegal migration as a nut
1:47
I think that the attention Don get bogged down semantics get to the issue of why should everybody in Britain have to pay the price because the government control our blooming borders
1:58
That's the point. We've talked about this government not controlling the borders. What about the 10 years before when there was a different government
2:03
So what? Not just illegal immigration, but fully legal immigration. They are a year plus
2:08
Millions of people into the UK. You can't get away with that. 500,000 people a year were legally allowed into the UK by the last government
2:15
Keir Starmer was elected saying he'd smashed the guns. What's happened to the numbers? they've gone up
2:19
He's taken the action required to smash the gangs. A thousand people came into the country in one day this week
2:24
The British Labour government is taking the action required to smash criminal gangs
2:28
But it's not working. Well, they haven't done it yet. I don't know if you're aware of this. This is what they're doing
2:33
They've had 14 months. That's what these ID cards are for, to smash those criminal gangs that you're talking about
2:36
Do you think Clinton also carried that? The one interesting thing you did say, Jake, is you talked about Labour Party conference
2:41
and it will be interesting to see how this policy goes down at Labour Party conference
2:45
This is not red meat for the Labour Party membership. So why do it? Peer Starmer's popularity is just me
2:51
If it's not even popular... He wants to stop the boat. That's why he's doing it
2:55
So stop the boat. Well, the question is, they can't, right? They aren't doing it. This is the way of doing it
2:59
But he's imposing imposition on Britons around the country. Millions of Brits, miles away from the coast
3:05
who may or may not be troubled by this issue, are going to feel that... Right, well, let me put this to you, Chris
3:10
It's already a criminal offence, a criminal offence to an employee, an asylum seeker
3:16
Currently, they have to... If someone comes to work for you, they have to show you a photo ID
3:20
whether it be a passport or a driving licence, and prove their national insurance number
3:24
And if you don't have that and the government come knocking on your door, you have committed a crime subject to massive fines, up to £50,000
3:30
Why will it stop people working if that photo ID is suddenly another different card
3:36
This will not stop asylum seekers working. It is about controlling the British population
3:41
It is completely wrong OK Dominic Moffat let give you a fair say here The point is people coming over in dinghies they chucking their ID into the channel We know that happening
3:52
We don't know how many people are here. It's well over a million by even a conservative estimate
3:57
They are already working in the illegal economy. How on earth can you give ID to people who are just vanished
4:03
I'm not sure that's how an ID card works. I think the point is these people won't have ID cards
4:08
So how will you give them one when they're already in the black economy who work in a legal, a persona non-grata already
4:13
They're not going to get one because that's the point. You won't have an ID card if you're not legally allowed to work
4:18
So what happens now? But people work already. And it's a criminal effect to be able to show the ID card
4:22
So you don't think that unscrupulous people, I don't know, who work in barber shops or car washes
4:26
won't just continue to flout the law? They all know. Well, I'm sure some of them will
4:31
but this is yet another arsenal that the government is giving itself to fight illegal migration
4:36
And the room fell silent on that point. because patently and clearly and provably
4:42
this government, and to be fair, the previous government, haven't controlled legal immigration. And rather than targeting, you know, those who are breaking the law
4:49
they're going for law, abiding citizens and sacrificing their liberty. I think it's a really interesting step
4:57
that they have clearly taken the decision quite a while ago. This has not just been cooked up in the last couple of days
5:01
This is clearly a long-term plan. Tony Ply has been working on it for decades. Well, as was mentioned earlier
5:06
it's interesting that there's quite a lot of Tony Blair Institute relationship with the government
5:12
and I'm sure that they've had a hand in this. And look, there was a lot of opposition to it back in the noughties
5:19
and it'll be interesting to see what the country does. There's not a strong libertarian streak in the PLP, in the Parliamentary Labour Party
5:25
Yeah, but there is outside of it. So I'm not sure at Labour Party conference we will see a significant opposition to this
5:31
But what there is in the country is a demand to do something about illegal migration and this is the government yet again taking action to stop it I wonder if that the case We saw Are people so short and have such a short memory they don remember the huge backlash to COVID lockdowns
5:49
Many people at the time said, I will never be locked down again by any government ever
5:53
And now they're being expected to basically surrender to something which may have future..
5:58
We don't know how that could be used. Your ID could be closed down to stop me, I don't know
6:03
eating red meat, going to the pub, buying cigarettes, anything. It could go anywhere. That's what people are scared about
6:10
I think that might be slightly alarmist. Do you reckon? Yes. And I'm not sure your viewers are going to benefit from you saying
6:15
that it would be used to stop people eating red meat. You don't think, potentially in the future
6:19
that this could go in the direction of a Chinese social credit system
6:23
You don't think that could happen? No, I don't think that's going to happen. Well, that's reassuring to hear
6:28
But I wonder if people actually out there will believe that, Jamie. Well, I mean, look, this government, and I blame COVID for this
6:34
and by government I mean the government itself rather than political party
6:38
is addicted to telling us what to do. And, you know, this is just feeding that addiction
6:45
And this whole thing about immigration, it is a Trojan horse. There has been a long-term programme in the civil service
6:52
to force 70 million people here in Britain to carry a digital IT card
6:57
linking it to immigration. Previously, when people wanted to introduce it, it was linked to COVID
7:02
Now it's linked to immigration. It's a Trojan horse to track us from the cradle to the grave
7:07
And what I'd say to people out there, GB News viewers, true patriots, is go out in the channel
7:12
maybe borrow Angela Rayner's inflatable dinghy that she was photographed in the summer
7:16
Get your digital ID, throw it away. We must resist this. It is a disgraceful attempt to control every part of our lives
7:23
Is this a reform party policy, Jake Berry? No, this is Jake Berry policy. No, but you're a member of the reform party
7:27
Nigel Farage is already on the record for saying that he opposed the digital ID
7:33
I think he's right
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