Starmer opens the door to Albania immigration scheme to replace Rwanda

Prime Minister plans to discuss ‘strong migration options’ with Giorgia Meloni when they meet in Rome

Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to sending migrants to Albania instead of Rwanda saying he was “interested” in a processing scheme developed by the Italian government.
Giorgia Meloni reached a deal last year to open two migrant processing centres in the Balkan nation where the claims of 36,000 migrants will be processed each year. The first of the migrant centres will open this autumn after several months’ delay.
Sir Keir said he was “interested” to see how the scheme would work, and said he wanted to discuss Ms Meloni’s “strong opinions” on migration and how they could help the UK deal with its small boats crisis.
Over the past year, the number of illegal migrants arriving in Italy has fallen from 118,000 to 44,500, a decrease of 62 per cent.
The Prime Minister’s positive comments on Albania come despite his party’s decision to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda scheme.
Under Italy’s scheme, migrants whose asylum claims are rejected will be returned to their home country while those accepted will be admitted into Italy. Under the Rwanda scheme, they would have been deported there. 
The Prime Minister made his comments on a trip to Washington to see Joe Biden, the US president.
On Sunday night, he will fly out to Rome to meet Ms Meloni for the second time since his election victory.
Asked about the Albanian scheme, Sir Keir said: “Let’s see. It’s in early days, I’m interested in how that works, I think everybody else is.”
He said he had already had a preliminary discussion with Ms Meloni 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,” he said.
“She and I have already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so that is something we will discuss.”
Italy has managed to drive down migrant numbers thanks to financial deals with the Tunisian and Libyan governments.
Migrant crossings from Tunisia to Italy have fallen by 80 per cent in the last 12 months and there has been a 27 per cent fall in numbers arriving from Libya over the same period.
The trip to Rome is the latest in a series of visits to European capitals as he seeks to form closer cooperation on tackling illegal migration and his efforts for a broader reset of relations with the EU.
More than 23,000 migrants have arrived in the UK in small boats so far this year, roughly the same that had crossed by this time last year.
Sir Keir added: “Irregular migration will be a feature as it was a feature when I spoke to chancellor Scholz; as it was a feature when I spoke to Emmanuel Macron.
“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.
“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.”
Sir Keir previously pledged £84 million in foreign aid back in the summer to help stop irregular migration at source because of conflict, climate change and extreme poverty.
Migration was the focus of the conference, which was held by Britain at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, with Sir Keir describing the issue of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and the Channel as “a crisis”.
The investment over the next three years, includes funding for projects to improve education and employment opportunities along with building resilience to shocks, including conflict, in a bid to encourage people to remain in their homes rather than travelling to Europe.