GB News star erupts in five word rant as migrant bombshell sparks outrage

GB News's Alex Armstrong sparked fury amongst fans following reports that migrants have been misusing payment cards and reportedly gambling away taxpayer-funded income. A Freedom of Information request made by PoliticsHome revealed more than 6,500 payments in gambling settings were attempted by asylum seekers in the past year. The payments were made on ASPEN cards, given by the Home Office to asylum seekers awaiting a decision to avoid them becoming destitute, which includes small weekly top-ups.

When asylum seekers first arrive to the UK, they are usually first put up in fully catered hotels - and given £9.95 a week on their ASPEN card, rising to £49.18 a week when they're moved to self-catered accommodation. But rather than buying necessities, some asylum seekers have successfully used the chip-and-pin ASPEN cards to gamble at physical sites such as casinos, slot machine arcades and national lottery retailers.

On Thursday (July 24), Ellie Costello and Stephen Dixon woke up the nation with the biggest stories hitting the headlines. Later on in the show, the presenting duo welcomed Susan Hall and Alex onto the morning show to discuss the divisive findings on the show.

Susan argued that if the government could police how the money they provide migrants and asylum seekers with, then there would be less public frustration. She began: "Whenever you look at stories like this and anything that says taxpayer's cash, you could kind of put anything at the top of there about the fact that we don't agree with.

"For example if you're on social security, people get very annoyed if people on social security spend their money on drink and fags or gambling or whatever else. Because actually we just want to go and police them and make sure that they're buying fruit and vegetables and organic meat."

The broadcaster went on to emphasise that those who are seeking asylum are doing so because they are likely fleeing from war and famine and persecution and "deserve to have a place" in the UK. She went on: "The problem is when it gets out of hand and when everybody else is struggling.

"These stories wouldn't be here if everybody wasn't feeling so stressed about everything. About the fact that their wages haven't gone up and then they see people getting money, it seems, for free."

It was at this point that Alex chimed in and shared his concerns for Brits who are working tirelessly with little support from the government. He echoed: "I think you're right, if it was people on benefits gambling I'd feel the same anger because what it feels like is, 'Why do I bother working?'

"People sit at home thinking, 'I work my backside off, I am taxed out of my backside and now I'm giving it to these people who aren't doing anything, and they're coming in and they're getting freebies.'"

The political commentator went on to suggest some simple ways that the government could help police how public spending is being used by migrants and asylum seekers.

He suggested: "I think the simple solution to this is that if you're going to have government benefits in some way, you should be restricted on what you can use to pay for things.

"That would take the outrage away and I think there's lots of really good solutions out there, like pre-paid cards that only allow you to shop at certain places and pay for certain things."

It didn't take long before fans flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their thoughts online. Some shared their concerns for the future if these issues aren't resolved, with one user penning: "Makes you wonder if you work for the future when there simply won't be a future [crying emoji]."

Meanwhile others argued:"Because if you don't bother, who else is going to keep the country from going round the bend? Sort your own life out first, then worry about others."

A third echoed: "Many people sit on benefits and have more disposable income than idiots like us working. I can't blame the people, it's not their fault the governments allow them to sit at home or in hotels milking the system. @Keir_Starmer SORT IT OUT!!"