Letters / Digital ID plans not right for our community or Scotland

What is with our parties of government and pushing these centralised ID card schemes? A few years ago the SNP were imposing digital ID cards to determine whether people were allowed to access events and services.

Now it is the turn of Labour. I was pretty appalled this week to see the Labour candidate in Shetland jumping to support Keir Starmer’s digital ID card plans, despite the massive costs and the significant risks.

I’m proud that my Liberal Democrat colleagues have consistently opposed mandatory ID cards, whether they were being pushed by the SNP in the past or Labour today.

We know that they are not right for our community or for Scotland.

If either of our governments want to do some good for digital access in Shetland they could start by delivering on the promise of full broadband rollout, improving mobile signal and ensuring that we get proper resilience against storm disruption.

These are the improvements that matter to Shetlanders, which is why I will be campaigning for better digital connectivity – and campaigning against this digital ID card.

Emma Macdonald
Shetland Liberal Democrat candidate