Albania Snubs Starmer after Rejecting UK Migrant Return Hubs

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Sir Keir Starmer has encountered a diplomatic roadblock after Albania publicly rebuffed his proposal to create “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers.

 

The Labour Prime Minister made the announcement during his first official visit to Tirana, where he outlined a plan to begin negotiations with countries willing to host migrants who had exhausted all legal options to remain in the UK. But the idea was swiftly and firmly rejected by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

 

At a joint press conference, Rama left little room for misinterpretation, declaring that Albania’s involvement in such schemes was exclusive to its agreement with Italy. “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 relation but also because of the geographical situation, which makes a lot of sense,” Rama stated. “We have been asked by several countries if we are open to it and we said no because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy.”

 

Reporter demands Starmer APOLOGISE to Albanians during press conference

 

Albania already hosts two migration detention centres for migrants arriving from Italy, and British government sources had previously floated the country as a likely candidate for Labour’s offshoring strategy. However, the Albanian leader’s blunt remarks have left Starmer’s proposal floundering, casting doubt over whether any Balkan nation will agree to host the return hubs.

 

The plan is part of a broader effort by the UK government to manage illegal immigration and deter Channel crossings, which have already exceeded 12,000 this year—a 40 percent rise compared to 2024. Starmer told GB News that the hubs would target individuals “who have been through the system in the UK” and needed to be returned effectively. “So that’s what the talks are about,” he explained. “I would say in this area no single measure is going to be the measure that is, if you like, a silver bullet. By putting it all together — arrests, seizures, agreements with other countries, returning people who shouldn’t be here, and return hubs, if we can through these talks to add to our armoury, will allow us to bear down on this vile trade and to make sure that we stop those people crossing the Channel.”

 

Other countries under consideration include Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia, though no formal agreements have been announced. Any such deal would require the UK to pay host nations for each relocated asylum seeker.

 

The strategy has not escaped criticism, drawing immediate comparisons to the Conservative Party’s now-defunct Rwanda deportation scheme, which Labour had previously opposed. Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, acknowledged that return hubs might offer some utility but warned they failed to address the root of the issue.

 

“If he can secure return hubs that would be very welcome. It’s not the answer to the problem and it would be dealing with the symptoms but not the cause,” Farage said. “If you could send failed asylum seekers away that would be a good thing but it doesn’t get round the problem that even those that do fail are still going to have all sorts of lawyers claiming Article 8 rights. It’s fine to discuss all of these things, but you have to be able to actually deliver them. The human rights element of all this makes it very, very difficult to work. Removing ourselves from the ECHR is the only way to deal with this.”

 

The government has suggested the hubs could help preempt attempts by migrants to exploit Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a private and family life. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said, “This will basically apply to people who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK but are attempting to stall using various tactics, whether it’s losing their paperwork or using other tactics to frustrate their removal.”

 

Despite Albania’s rejection, the government remains hopeful that other nations might be more amenable. For now, however, Starmer’s ambitions for external processing hubs face an uphill climb — one that begins with overcoming diplomatic resistance from key potential partners.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from Sky News  2025-05-17

 

 

[James105]

Snubbed by Albania.   It's embarrassing to have this nasally weasel as the PM.  I bet he wishes he wasn't so keen to virtue signal the Rwanda scheme out the door on his first day in office now that he is scrambling desperately around trying to find some country out there willing the take on illegal immigrants since his "smash the gangs" policy has been such an epic failure.  Completely clueless.   

[Snackbar]

Starmer turns up unannounced demanding 

 

Amateur hr

[Card]

I bet the Albanian won't even take back all the Albanian criminals he's exporting