Having just paid a small fortune to renew my passport. I'm not super excited about this, especially as I live outside the UK.
I also don't trust them not to make a complete hash of all this, removing all potential utility while simultaneously increasing the chances of my ID being stolen.
As an American it seems to me that the UK government insists on finding a way to upset all sides on any given issue like illegal immigration. If anything it's the singular and unique skill of Whitehall.
It's more that the average Brit finds a way to be upset about everything any UK government does. Even just the test of the cell emergency alert system was met with fierce public criticism: what if people crash their car out of surprise?!
But being critical of your leaders isn't the worst thing in the world. It's fairly bipartisan too; most of the people who voted for our current PM just a year ago now disapprove of him. A high level of public scrutiny on one's leaders' is probably quite effective at preventing totalitarianism. Whatever can be (often justifiably) said about our ineffective leadership, what we do have is a good track record for stability.
However, sometimes it's really just cynicism for cynicism's sake.
IMO this is a gimmick and probably won't have much effect either for good or bad. I would vote against it given the chance. But there aren't that many British people who feel especially strongly about this.
In the last 10 years the UK has had 4 general elections and the Brexit referendum. Some countries have more local democracy (e.g. direct elections of DAs in the US), but in terms of opportunities to change the national government or influence national policy, I don't think the UK is doing too badly.
I also don't trust them not to make a complete hash of all this, removing all potential utility while simultaneously increasing the chances of my ID being stolen.
sigh