Starmer admits UK could send migrants to Albania just months after scrapping Rwanda deal
The Labour leader said he was 'interested' in the Italian deal and would consider it - but warned 'it's early days'
SIR Keir Starmer has admitted that he is open to sending migrants to Albania to have their asylum claims processed.
Before travelling to Rome today to meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the PM revealed he could copy Italy's deal to assess applications in Tirana. Illegal migration will be one of the key topics for the two leaders, as Sir Keir continues his diplomatic blitz to reset relations with Europe.
Arrivals in Italy have fallen by 62 per cent after Ms Meloni launched a crackdown on migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
She has struck deals with Libya and Tunisia to stop boats leaving northern Africa and controversially banned charity ships from picking up asylum seekers from more than one boat at a time.
Sir Keir said ahead of the meeting: "We'll be able to talk about irregular migration, and other things as well.
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"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 are going through Germany.
"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. I've already had a preliminary discussion with Giorgia Meloni about this, about how we can work together on irregular migration.
"She has, of course, got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her. She and I have already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so that is something we will discuss."
The Italian government has cut arrivals on its southern coasts by two-thirds to 44,495, according to Italy's interior ministry.
This compares to 122,823 last year at the same point and 64,000 over the same period in 2022.
It has been reported how Italy and the EU gave Tunisia almost £90million to train its coastguard to detect migrants leaving its shores.
Italy also supplied patrol vessels to the Tunisian coastguard to pick up migrants who set off in the Mediterranean and return them to Tunisia before they entered international or Italian waters.
Pressed on whether he would consider a similar scheme to Rome's deal with Albania, Sir Keir said: "Let's see. It's early days. I'm interested in how that works, I think everybody else is. It's very, very early days."
Last year the UK Government paid more than 1,000 Albanian offenders £1,500 to leave and go back to Albania. Reports claimed the prisoners were offered the money as an incentive and to "discourage and hinder migration".
The Prime Minister has made closer ties with Europe a key part of his plan to end the Channel migrant crisis. He has already met Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz five times and French President Emmanuel Macron four times.
Sir Keir said of his EU reset plans: "I'm very serious about it. I think that's clear enough from the work we've been doing in the last few weeks since the election.
"We're very serious about that. Obviously we have a long way to go."
