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.
The Prime Minister will hold talks with leaders meeting in Tirana to entice them to host return hubs, after the conference host said no.
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.
In a surprise move, the Prime Minister used a trip to Albania to unveil plans to create Rwanda-style centres abroad to house failed asylum seekers from the UK.
Sir Keir attempted to brush off the snub from Albania and insisted he was not ready to name the countries Britain is working with on the plans
‘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.
Officials last night insisted that return hubs could still be negotiated with other Balkan nations, such as Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia. Ministers are also investigating possible deals with several African states, although not Rwanda.
