NOW — The UK Government has quietly admitted it holds thousands of documents relating to its involvement in global digital governance and digital ID programmes led by the UN and World Economic Forum.
Following a Freedom of Information request in collaboration with
@Together, the Foreign Office confirmed it is participating in initiatives related to:
- Digital identity
- “Trust frameworks”
- Digital public infrastructure
The FCDO refused to release the material, citing the excessive cost of disclosure. A single UN programme alone produced nearly 2,000 documents involving UK officials.
This confirms that the UK Government is actively embedded in the development of global digital ID systems outside of public scrutiny, and without parliamentary debate.
The public was not informed. No press briefings. No Commons votes.
All we have is an FOI admission and the documents they say would take too long to retrieve.
I’ve now submitted a refined FOI to extract the most critical material. If the UK is shaping global digital identity standards behind closed doors, we deserve to see what they’re agreeing to.
Note: The FOI response from the Foreign Office is dated 19th June 2025, but was only received on 4th July 2025. This delay may reflect internal clearance procedures or slow release, but it highlights the challenges in accessing timely transparency on matters of public interest.