UK looking at sending asylum seekers to Albania to tackle small boats crisis

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he's interested in how an agreement between Italy and Albania works

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will discuss Italy's agreement for processing asylum seekers in Albania when he meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. EPA

Keir Starmer has paved the way for the UK to send asylum seekers to Albania, saying he was interested in a processing scheme developed by the Italian government.

The UK Prime Minister is due to meet his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in the coming days to discuss how her country is tackling the problem of migrants arriving by boat.

It comes after eight migrants died when their overcrowded boat capsized in the English Channel as they tried to make it to the UK on Sunday.

On his first full day as Prime Minister in July, Mr Starmer announced the UK would abandon plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, which had formed the central plank of his predecessor Rishi Sunak's pledge to "stop the boats". The proposals ran into several legal challenges, which centred around concerns over Rwanda’s human rights record.

Under the deal with Ms Meloni's government, Albania – which lies across the Adriatic Sea to the east of Italy – will host two holding centres for migrants rescued in Italian waters. Asked whether he would consider pursuing a similar agreement, Mr Starmer replied: "Let's see.”

Mr Starmer has previously suggested he would be open to offshore asylum processing but has not indicated that option is being actively explored.

"It's in early days, I'm interested in how that works, I think everybody else is. It's very, very early days,” he said.

The PM said his Italian counterpart "has of course got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her". Mr Starmer said in relation to migration there were "different challenges in different countries".

"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," he said. "And I think that they should take further opportunities to seize them on their journey."

Under the Rwanda scheme, asylum claims were to be processed by the African country, whereas with the Italy-Albania deal, migrants are to be held in the Balkan country but dealt with under Italian jurisdiction.

The plans faced a legal challenge taken up by Albania's Constitutional Court following condemnation from opposition parties in both countries, as well as rights groups.

The two centres can hold a maximum of 3,000 people at any one time, while they await a decision on their asylum claims. The scheme is estimated to cost more than $703 million over its five-year span.

The International Rescue Committee NGO has condemned the agreement as "dehumanising", while Amnesty International described it as "illegal and unenforceable".