Starmer ‘interested’ in Italy’s migrant deal with Albania

Sir Keir Starmer has signalled he is “interested” in Italy’s migration deal with Albania as a way of tackling the small boats crisis, ahead of a meeting with Giorgia Meloni.

The Prime Minister said it was “early days” in the rollout of the policy, under which Tirana will accept asylum seekers on Italy’s behalf while their claims are processed, but indicated he was open to pursuing a similar scheme for Britain.

Speaking to journalists ahead of talks with the Italian premier on Monday, Sir Keir said: “We’ll be able to talk about irregular migration, and other things as well.

“It’ll be a feature as it was a feature when I spoke to Chancellor (Olaf) Scholz; as it was a feature when I spoke to Emmanuel Macron.”

‘Strong ideas’

The PM said his Italian counterpart “has of course got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her”.

Asked whether he would consider pursuing an agreement similar to the one Italy has struck with Albania, Sir Keir replied: “Let’s see.

“It’s in early days, I’m interested in how that works, I think everybody else is.

“It’s very, very early days.”

It comes after the Prime Minister axed the previous Tory government’s plan to send some migrants on a one-way flight to Rwanda as one of his first moves in office, declaring the scheme as “dead and buried”.

That scheme had sought to enable asylum claims to be processed in the Kigali system, unlike the Italy-Albania plans, whereby migrants are to be held in the Balkan country but dealt with under Italian jurisdiction.

Sir Keir said that in relation to migration, there were “different challenges in different countries”.

Offshore processing

He has previously suggested he would be open to offshore asylum processing, but has not indicated that the option is currently being actively explored.

“In Germany I was particularly concerned that a very large percentage of the boats’ engines that are ending up being used for the Channel crossings that are going through Germany,” he said.

“And I think that they should take further opportunities to seize them on their journey.

“Obviously with Macron it was very much about what to do on the northern coast of France.”

The trip comes as Sir Keir seeks a wider “reset” of the UK’s relationships with its European neighbours following Brexit, following meetings with German Chancellor Mr Scholz and French President Mr Macron last month.