Starmer faces scrutiny over migrant plans during live TV interview
Keir Starmer faced humiliation over his latest attempt at a migrant crackdown yesterday. In a surprise move, the Prime Minister used a trip to Albania to unveil plans to create Rwanda-style centres abroad to house failed asylum seekers from the UK. But the initiative imploded on live TV just an hour later when his host, Albanian PM Edi Rama, ruled out ever taking part in the scheme.
The plan is a major U-turn for Sir Keir, who branded the previous government's Rwanda deportation scheme a gimmick and scrapped it within days of taking office. Towering over Sir Keir at a press conference in the capital Tirana, 6ft 7in Mr Rama (Pictured) said his country had no interest in expanding a similar deal it had struck with Italy. Leaving Sir Keir squirming, Mr Rama said: 'I have been very clear since day one when we started this process with Italy that this was a one-off with Italy because of our very close relationship but also because of the geographical situation which makes a lot of sense.'
He added: 'One of the first acts of this Labour Government was to scrap the Rwanda scheme. Now, with 2025 so far the worst year in history for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel, the Prime Minister is scrambling to stitch together a weak imitation. Starmer has never cared about stopping illegal migration... now he's in full panic mode, cobbling together half-baked policies to cover up his chaos.'
The blow for Sir Keir comes as he looks to talk tough on immigration to combat the rising threat from Reform UK – despite years of saying the opposite. Officials last night insisted that return hubs could still be negotiated with other Balkan nations, such as Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia. Ministers are also investigating possible deals with several African states, although not Rwanda. Sir Keir attempted to brush off the snub from Albania and insisted he was not ready to name the countries Britain is working with on the plans. Officials tried to suggest there had never been any plan for Tirana to be involved, despite travelling there to announce it. 'At the appropriate time, I'll be able to give you further details in relation to it,' the PM said following Mr Rama's rejection.
Speaking before he met with Mr Rama, Sir Keir said he was now in favour of paying to send failed asylum seekers abroad. He said: 'What we now want to do and are having discussions of, talks of, is return hubs which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned and we have to make sure they're returned effectively and we'll do that, if we can, through return hubs. 'So that's what the talks are about. I would say in this area no single measure is going to be the measure that is, if you like, a silver bullet. Putting it all together – arrests, seizures, agreements with other countries, returning people who shouldn't be here, and return hubs – will allow us to bear down on this vile trade and to make sure that we stop those people crossing the Channel.'
Downing Street said the plans were 'entirely different' from the last government's flagship Rwanda deportation scheme. But the decision to open talks on paying to send asylum seekers to third countries will leave the Prime Minister open to allegations of hypocrisy. Ministers are now scrambling to find a replacement that could act as a deterrent to Channel migrants following a surge in crossings since Labour came to power. Arrivals this year have topped 12,000 – an increase of 40 per cent on 2024. More than 600 crossed on Monday while the PM was giving a major speech promising a crackdown on immigration.
The surge in numbers threatens to make a mockery of Labour's plan to 'smash the gangs', with ministers now resorting to blaming the fine weather for the increase in illegal crossings. The new plan will involve paying to send potentially thousands of failed asylum seekers to the Balkans, rather than holding them in the UK until they can be removed. One Whitehall insider described the plan as 'Rwanda-lite' but insisted it still had the potential to act as a deterrent and persuade some failed asylum seekers to return home voluntarily rather than gamble on finding a way to stay in the UK. It will target only those who have exhausted the asylum appeals process.
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