Major airport change means passports ‘no longer needed’ at Britain's borders with AI facial recognition

Facial recognition would create an "intelligent border", similar to Dubai which uses AI for 50 nationalities.

The new scheme would use "much more frictionless facial recognition than we currently do", according to Phil Douglas, the director-general of Border Force.

"We will know a lot more information about people upfront. We will know if they've been in the UK before," he told the Times.

"We'll know what their compliance with immigration laws is. And we'll know if there's any records of them on our security systems.

"So there will be some people who won't be getting on the plane."

It has been reported that trials for the new technology will be trialled this year.

There are an estimated 270 e-gates across the UK which allow faster travel across the border.

Officials have already started to roll out another scheme to replace the current patchwork of tourist visa rules with a single Electronic Travel Authorisation system.

The project is a US-style structure where everyone coming to the UK will pay for a travel pass and fill out a security questionnaire.

In addition, cross-border digital IDs are also being test run, which could see the ditching of passports in the future.

In Finland, between now and February 2024, residents can download the FIN DTC pilot app on their smartphones and take part in a trial.

Border guards have been using with a system called Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) at Helsinki Airport.

Locals must register with police and send them their data before they fly.