United Kingdom
Labour MPs have expressed concern that the government is not doing enough to combat the spread online of conspiracy theories about plans to introduce digital ID.
“We have seen a significant amount of misinformation amplified by the [social media] platforms around digital ID. I haven’t seen an effective response from the government,” Chi Onwurah, Labour MP and chair of the Science and Technology Committee, told PoliticsHome.
One claim is that a company run by the son of former prime minister Tony Blair, Euan, has been awarded a government contract the produce the digital ID scheme. BBC comedy show Have I Got News For You aired the claim and apologised the next day after it was spotted by PoliticsHome. The episode was removed from BBC iPlayer and then appeared again with the section containing the false claim edited out.
Meanwhile, the Government has responded to calls to scrap the introduction of Digital ID cards across the country, saying that they will be introduced “within this Parliament.”
A petition online calling the creation of any national ID system “a step towards mass surveillance and digital control” has gained 2.8 million signatures – prompting a response from the Government.
Because the petition has over 10,000 signatures, the Government has issued a response. The topic is also being considered for debate in Parliament since the petition has over a million signatures.
Separately, The Telegraph claims that documents from HMRC suggest using Digital ID cards for tax returns could secure £600 million in additional revenue by clamping down on fraud and human error.
Finland
Finland is set to introduce a Digital Identity Wallet by December 2026, providing citizens with a secure smartphone application for digital identification, electronic signatures, and credential management.
The initiative extends Finland’s existing digital identity infrastructure and follows the country’s Ministry of Finance’s EUDI project framework, launched earlier to prepare for this implementation. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will develop and maintain this platform, which will support both public and private sector digital certificates.
The implementation includes a new electronic identification (eID) system, to be issued by the National Police Board in collaboration with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The official eID will carry the same legal weight as traditional identification documents, though it will not function as a travel document. The system enables selective disclosure of personal information, allowing users to verify specific attributes, such as age verification, without revealing additional personal details.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has expanded its international presence with new facilitation counters in Canada, Italy, Bahrain, and Jordan to enhance services for overseas Pakistani citizens. The expansion builds upon NADRA’s comprehensive digital services suite launched in 2025. The new service points are situated within Pakistani embassies in Montreal and Vancouver, Milan, Manama, and Amman respectively, with an additional counter planned for Rome.
The expansion enables Pakistani expatriates to access essential identity and documentation services without returning to Pakistan. The facilitation counters provide National Identity Cards (CNIC), National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP), and related documentation services. The international rollout follows NADRA’s successful mobile registration drives in Saudi Arabia and other regions with significant Pakistani populations.
NADRA has also strengthened its digital service capabilities through the Pak Identity mobile application, which enables remote processing of ID services.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has launched a pilot programme implementing biometric ID checks to enhance safeguards in its gambling industry through a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Biometric.Vision. The initiative builds upon Kazakhstan’s broader push toward digital identity solutions, including its planned national biometric authentication system announced earlier this year.
The programme uses Biometric.Vision’s identity verification service that combines facial biometrics and artificial intelligence for real-time user verification.
United Kingdom
Digital identity providers Yoti and Luciditi have partnered to create one of the UK’s largest interoperable digital ID networks for age and identity verification. The collaboration connects the user bases of Yoti, Luciditi, the Post Office EasyID, and Lloyds Bank’s Smart ID, forming a combined network of approximately seven million users.
The pact enables mutual recognition of credentials between the four providers. This means a business using Luciditi’s verification system can now seamlessly accept a digital ID from a customer using the Yoti, EasyID, or Smart ID apps, and vice-versa. All four wallet providers are certified under the UK’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), which establishes the technical and security rules for the ecosystem.
United Kingdom / Ireland
Vega IT has announced a strategic partnership with digital identity firm Daon. The partnership will enhance Vega IT’s ‘Seamless Experience’ initiative, helping organisations reimagine how customers interact, authenticate, and move between services.
By integrating Daon’s identity assurance solutions with Vega IT’s experience in digital product development and customer journey design, the collaboration will enable organisations to “streamline operations, reduce manual checks, and deliver secure, low-friction authentication to the user.”
Malysia
NextG’s subsidiary Datasonic will modernise Malysia’s national ID card infrastructure in a six-year contract worth around US$173 million.
Per an announcement from the company, the deal includes biometric ID card production which will kick off in June next year, in continuation of the services it has provided for the MyKad ID since 1999.
The redesigned MyKad ID will facilitate service delivery through streamlined identity verification and digital KYC.
