Working with officials in Albania is seen as a success story in stopping migration at source, partly due to the actions of the previous Conservative government which Starmer will build on
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in Albania to announce an expanded crackdown on migrant smuggling gangs in the Balkans – a key staging post on the route to Britain.
In the first official visit to the country by a UK prime minister, he hopes to reinforce this week’s tough message about slashing levels of both legal and illegal migration.
Starmer is relying on “smashing the gangs” as the government’s policy to tackle small boat crossings, which remain at a record high this year; passing the 12,000 mark earlier this week.
But working with officials in Albania is seen as a success story in stopping migration at source, partly due to the actions of the previous Conservative government, which Starmer will build on. In 2022, arrivals from Albania accounted for around a third of all small boat arrivals – a higher number than from any other country.
Over the past three years, those numbers have been cut by 95%. The number of Albanians returned to their home country has also more than doubled to 5,294 last year, from just over 2,000 two years earlier.
The prime minister will join Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania since 2013, at the Port of Durres on Thursday to see UK-backed efforts to tackle smuggling gangs and the criminal activities that fund them. A programme to detect migrants attempting to travel using fake or stolen documents will be expanded, with the UK donating new anti-forgery machines. The government will also invest a further £1m in DNA technology to detect serious criminals on the streets of the UK.
Starmer is also expected to express concerns about a “revolving door effect” in which a migrant is returned home, only to evade law enforcement and leave the country again. He will support programmes in northern Albania – where migrants come from – to reintegrate young people and provide them with employment opportunities, the government said.
The prime minister will announce that the joint migration taskforce, with Albania and Kosovo, signed at the end of 2022, will be expanded to include North Macedonia and Montenegro. The National Crime Agency will share intelligence with law enforcement agencies in these countries and deploy UK-funded drones to detect gangsters funnelling migrants through the Western Balkans corridor and on to the UK.
The countries of the Western Balkans – including Serbia, whose government signed an agreement with Sir Keir last year – have for around five years been the key corridor to Europe for migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Starmer will say: “Global challenges need shared solutions, and the work the UK and Albania are doing together is delivering security for working people in both countries. Our joint work to deter, detect and return illegal migrants is further proof that intervening upstream to protect British shores and secure our borders is the right approach. Every step we take to tackle illegal migration overseas, cripple the criminal networks that facilitate it and stem the finance streams that fund it is delivering safer streets in the UK, and reducing the strain on taxpayer funded services.”
On Friday, the prime minister will attend the European Political Community summit in the capital Tirana, a forum for European leaders to discuss security challenges in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
It’s expected to be a chance for the UK to discuss key points of a forthcoming defence pact with the EU and the terms of a “reset” of relations ahead of a summit in London next Monday.
Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp called Starmer’s visit “pure theatre”.
He said: “The returns deal with Albania was decisive action taken by the previous Conservative government, resulting in a cut to small boat arrivals from Albania by over 90%. So why is Starmer now flying out for a handshake in Tirana to claim credit?”
