Latest news with #migrantReturnHubs
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
So who WILL take migrants, Keir? No10 refuses to say which countries it is talking to about return hubs after Albania snub
Downing Street is refusing to reveal which countries it is talking to about taking Britain's unwanted asylum seekers No10 refused to 'get ahead' of discussions with countries it hopes will host its migrant return hubs scheme, after Albania became the first country to rule itself out. In a surprise move, the Prime Minister used a visit to Tirana yesterday 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. At the same time, Labour 's hardline new approach to legal migration, designed to tackle the surge in reform votes, has not helped Sir Keir's personal popularity. A poll by YouGov today showed the PM's personal rating is down five points in a month to a new record low of -46 . At the same time, the popularity of Nigel Farage has risen by 11 points to -29, following the by-election win in Runcorn and Helsby, and gains in local elections. But perhaps most worryingly for Sir Keir, he is down a stunning 34 points with those who voted Labour last year, in a poll carried out after he said Brits were becoming 'strangers in their own land'. Half of those who put him into power last year now have an unfavourable opnion of him. Asked when a list of participating countries for the return hub scheme might be available, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We've set out what return hubs would focus on, we've set out that they would address the current intolerable situation where asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK attempt various stalling tactics to frustrate their removal, so we've set out what it would deliver. 'We've said that we're entering those discussions with countries. Obviously we can't get ahead of those discussions, so it's not possible to say now when … but we will obviously provide an update depending on how those discussions progress.' Asked why the scheme was announced in Albania, a country which is not taking part, he said Albania was 'one of our closest allies when it comes to tackling illegal migration'. He said the Prime Minister had been in the country to upgrade a bilateral 'strategic partnership' on how to tackle irregular migration. A minister earlier denied that Albania's public refusal to host the UK's migrant return hub scheme was embarrassing for the Prime Minister. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Times Radio: 'I think that's a bit of a reach. This was never intended to be part of our discussions with Albania.' Asked which other countries had said they were open to the scheme, she said she was 'not in a position to name individual countries or set out how that's going to work', but that there would be 'further discussions' with a number of nations. Towering over Sir Keir at a press conference in the capital Tirana, 6ft 7in Mr Rama 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: 'We have been asked by several countries if we were open to it and we said no, because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy and the rest is just love.' Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was highly critical of the diplomatic setback. 'This trip is an embarrassment,' he said. 'Starmer jetted off and now the Albanian prime minister has made clear that there will be no UK return hubs in Albania. So, what was the point of this entire visit?' 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.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
JASON GROVES: It was 22C in Tirana, but decidedly frosty as PM's humiliation became clear
Keir Starmer 's plan to develop migrant 'return hubs' in the Western Balkans was drawn up in tight secrecy. Labour strategists had hoped to generate the kind of big news splash that would cut through to voters and convince them he is finally getting serious about the crisis in the Channel. Downing Street officials were so nervous about the news dribbling out early and lessening the impact of the story that they deliberately misled travelling journalists, telling them that the issue was 'not on the table' during the trip to Albania. That meant that, while it was 22C in the capital, Tirana, yesterday, the mood was already decidedly frosty. Unfortunately, the cloak of secrecy appears to have extended to Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, who vetoed his country's involvement in the scheme just an hour after it was announced. At a humiliating joint press conference with Sir Keir, Mr Rama said he had been 'very clear' with anyone who had bothered to ask that a similar deal with Italy had been a 'one-off'. Sir Keir was then forced to tell reporters that he would only announce the countries interested in the deal 'at the appropriate time'. The sense of farce was heightened when the PM failed to confirm he would be staying on to fight the next election – prompting a flurry of speculation about his future before officials managed to manufacture an opportunity for him to answer the question again so he could 'clarify' his intention to stay on. Government officials tried to play down the fiasco last night, saying they had never planned to do a deal with Albania. Which rather raises the question of why Sir Keir chose to become the first British PM to visit the Balkan state to announce the plan. Officials insist other countries in the Balkans and beyond remain interested in the idea of taking failed asylum seekers in return for cash. We shall see. But in any case, the plan for return hubs looks likely to have only a marginal impact on the problem at hand. The last government's Rwanda scheme, which was frustrated by Sir Keir at every step, was designed to break the link between getting on a dinghy in France and building a new life in Britain. Channel migrants would have been flown to Africa with no opportunity ever to claim asylum in the UK. The new proposal is much more modest. Asylum seekers will be deported to a 'return hub' only when they have exhausted all possible avenues for appeal – a process that can take months or even years. Those from countries which are not deemed safe, such as Afghanistan, will not be involved because there is no prospect of them ever being sent home. The scheme has some potential merit. Those failed asylum seekers who seek to frustrate their removal through tactics such as claiming to have lost their identity documents, could be removed to a third country while the issue was sorted out. This would deny them the opportunity to try to find a new way of staying in the UK, such as marrying or fathering a child. But the number of cases is likely to be a drop in the ocean even if it ever gets off the ground. Even this moves Sir Keir well outside his comfort zone. The reality of trying to calm public anger over the Channel crisis has forced the former human rights lawyer to contemplate ideas he would once have condemned out of hand. But on the evidence of yesterday's embarrassment in Tirana, he has a long way to go yet before he can present a sceptical electorate with a convincing plan.
