'NOT the case!' GB News host shuts down guest over claim digital IDs could 'put the brakes' on migrant crisis

The illegal migration crisis has sparked a fiery GB News row after political commentator Andy Williams argued that introducing "digital ID" would "put the brakes on small boat crossings".

Hitting back at Mr Williams, Breakfast host Stephen Dixon declared the country needs a "solid deterrent" to crack down on people smuggling gangs.

In the Government's latest bid to tackle the crisis, the Home Office is now set to begin using AI tests to estimate the age of asylum seekers claiming to be children.

IT company Akhter Computers has been awarded a £322,000 contract by the Government to provide "an algorithm that can accurately predict the age of a subject".

Arguing in favour of the new technology, Mr Williams told GB News that it is a "very smart use of technology".

He said: "In the last year for which we have data, 43 per cent of people who arrived at the border and claimed to be children were in fact adults, so this is a very smart use of technology."

He added: "£300,000 is what this contract is worth, and that is a drop in the ocean compared to the overall amount of money we're spending.

"We need smarter and more deployment of technology to help solve this problem."

Mr Williams then told GB News the "number one thing" the Government could do to "put the brakes" on the crisis is using "digital ID".

He explained: "I've been saying for a really long time, the number one thing we could do to really put the brakes on this crisis is introduce digital ID.

"If we had digital ID cards, there would be a one-stop shop for everybody to demonstrate whether they had a right to be here or not.

"It wouldn't solve the problem at the border, but what it would do is make it almost impossible to actually get a job, make money, well, disappear into the shadow economy, which is what so many people are doing once they arrive."

Hitting back at Mr Williams's suggestion, Stephen declared that that is "simply not the case".

He argued: "Well, that's not the case, is it? Because even at the minute, you've got to have a right to rent check done, you've got to have a right to work check done.

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"If you're employing people, you're not doing those checks anyway, so why are you gonna bother if they've got a digital ID?"

Mr Williams admitted that although that is a "complex problem", the Government does need "smarter technology" to crack down on illegal migration.

He told GB News: "That's a fair point and we need to crack down on some these companies, like delivery driver companies, and of course, this is a complex interconnected problem.

"But when it comes to smarter deployment of technology, I think that's the right thing to do."

Defending the use of digital ID further, Mr Williams concluded: "I know not everybody will like it, but trust me, it's going to make your life easier.

"It works in other countries and we need to think bigger and more radically about the ways in which we can improve people's lives with technology.

"It might sound scary, I know people are nervous about AI, but it's going to happen to us anyway and we may as well leverage it and lean in rather than shy away from it."

A Home Office spokesman told GB News: "After record high levels of migration under the previous government, net migration has fallen by 82 per cent.

"Whilst holding a sponsorship license is no guarantee of a visa, we will never tolerate abuse. That is why we have tightened requirements, including doubling the length of time employers who commit repeat offences are prevented from sponsoring workers.

"Meanwhile, skilled sponsor revocations are up, more than 100 occupations have been cut from overseas recruitment access and the skilled salary threshold raised."