I am not sure a government digital ID would help with dealing with businesses.
Right to rent is a stupid and useless bit of bureaucracy which encourages racism - its much easier for landlords not to rent to someone who looks or sounds foreign, especially at the bottom end of the market where people might not have passports.
Edit: I should have said something like discrimination on grounds of race or national origin. The landlords are not motivated by a desire to discriminate, but to avoid have to carry out checks, especially if they do not understand the requirements with regard to visas - easier just to let to someone who (they think!) is definitely British.
I am pretty sure it would if it was allowed to. Once businesses have one usable source of ID and/or residence, they don't have to create and maintain elaborate alternative ways of establishing this information.
I come from a country where there is a national ID and lived in the UK for a while (before there was any form of electronic registration of foreign workers). I facepalmed everytime I had to interact with a business requiring ID or address, or with the government. This is a long-solved problem and they refuse to use the known, good, solution. They even managed to make a national ID into law around 2010 and then scrape it a year or so later when a new government came into power. I still can't believe it.
A central gov ID means that, for example, the bank don't ask for proof of address by requesting months of utility bills,
> Right to rent is a stupid and useless bit of bureaucracy
It can be abused but arguably serves a purpose. Landlords can already just refuse foreign-looking tenants if they want.
Where I live e-government is super smooth, like having your taxes filed for you - all you have to do is to sign it with your e-id. E-id is, as I see it, actually saftey for me as a citizen, with delegated security so that the SP only get verification and the info actually needed from the IDP.
Although requiring it for porn is just sick.
I've lived in other countries in Europe and their government isn't that smooth either. In fact the UK was much better than Spain when I lived there, though things may have changed now.
They're determined to bring it in and will attempt to gradually. You need an ID for so many things in the UK so it is a lie in some ways.
I normally just use Birthcert and Utility bills.
Would you rather there were no age checks?
If you live here you hear about England non-stop on the news. In fact, many papers and news channels report England-only developments as if they apply to the rest of the UK.
Outside of that the news seems to be very focused on what happens in London/Westminster, Ukraine, Palestine or Trump. I don't really care about any of those.
I only pretty much care about things like Digital ID and stuff like OSA.
However Scotland (much like Northern Island) seems like it own little weird microcosm.
I don't really understand the political landscape outside of England and whenever I see statements made by the main party up there (the SNP) they seem to be utterly ridiculous jingoist anti-English nonsense that feels like it stems from Braveheart. I am not going to listen to a politician that basically painting me out to be the enemy, which is odd since most Scottish people I've spoken to are quite friendly.
It is obvious that the government is being deceitful. Noone wants ID cards except the Tony Blair Institute.
A key difference is the relationship between the people and the government and the motivation behind creating a federated ID. There's definitely an element of governmental monitoring to the Scandinavian model but the relationship with the government is less adversarial than in the UK.
You could get a prepaid (pay as you go) SIM for £1 from any phone service shop in a minute.
Few years ago I could get a "Passport" account from HSBC without UK phone at all and without a proof of address, I was simply asked to show my employment contract to THW clerk.
And the rest -- in the UK lives many EU citizens who are used to having the ID cards and are used to their utility. Many are VASTLY superior to what Labour was trying to impose.
The thing is, there's a fundamental difference between these and the ID card UK's Labour wanted to introduce.
It wasn't to make things EASIER. If it was, you'd get a plastic with NFC, photo, perhaps UTR or NINo and a date of birth, with a storage to keep your Oyster card or other sort of ID. Its a solved and tried problem.
It wasn't to make things safer - otherwise you could use it to sign your documents with a certificate - securely, reading your ID by your phone. You could use your ID to ANONYMOUSLY (yes) confirm your age. Not only offline (when buying alcohol as a Muslim for example), but also online.
It was openly planned to be used as a tool of control and oppression. PM was claiming it will be easier to control the pesky immigrants (lying it will make impossible employing someone illegally - lying, because Right to Work scheme is in force right noe, and its also completely online).
It was supposed to be a bind, not a tool. Only online identifier is a nightmare waiting to happen for every single European with a settled status -- NOTHING to prove legal status except for computer saying "yay". People lost job, homes, got bounced off the border because "the computer" wrongly claimed they were not legally.
THIS is what it was supposed to be in the first place.
It's okay if you don't believe me, but in that case please look up three examples: lists if features of the Estonian, Dutch and Polish ID card, what things you can do with use of either, consider the convenience and safety, and THEN compare it with only-online solution touted by the Labour, their intended use and features. Not a list of the documents it will supposedly replace, but features.
And that in XXIst century with eIDAS 2.0 in force - so the best practices available to pick and use.
But no, Britain gonna Britain...
And yes - regarding a UK phone number: you can buy a pre-paid SIM in literally every single supermarket or corner shop / convenience store in the country like you would buy a can of Coke or a pack of chewing gum, this is a non-isue.
What I experienced last year was many digital verification steps that were all required: open a UK bank account, sign up for a UK phone number, secure a UK residential postal address, apply for UK right-to-rent codes, generate a UK national insurance number, file for UK healthcare registration, and more.
Each step had different digital workflows and UI/UX. To traverse all these steps took hundreds of hours and a couple months wall time.
Many steps had catch-22s. The UK bank account needed a UK phone number, while the UK phone company needed a UK bank account. The UK payroll company needed a permanent residence, while the UK landlord needed UK payroll stubs. None of the steps had a quick simple way to digitally verify my UK work visa.
IMHO federation could be a big help here, such as for government agencies and government-approved businesses doing opt-in data sharing and ideally via APIs. For example, imagine each step can share its relevant information with other steps. This could make things more efficient, more accurate, and ideally more secure.