Italy’s deal with Albania to process irregular migrants is “very, very different” to the scrapped Rwanda plan, Yvette Cooper has said.
The Home Secretary drew a distinction between Rome’s third country processing agreement with the Balkan nation and the now-scrapped plan floated by the Tories in office, as Sir Keir Starmer visited his counterpart Giorgia Meloni as part of a bid to grasp the migrant crisis.
The Prime Minister is visiting Rome as he continues his attempts to reset relations with the UK’s nearest neighbours, with migration expected to be at the top of the agenda.
Ministers are reportedly interested in pursuing schemes similar to those Italy has undertaken since Ms Meloni came to power two years ago.
Her government’s approach to border control has witnessed a 60% drop in arrivals by sea over the past year, and includes a processing deal with Albania which has been compared to the Rwanda scheme.
But the Home Secretary insisted it was not the same, telling BBC Breakfast: “It’s very, very different. So the arrangement that they have in place – and look, it’s not working yet, so we don’t know how it will play out – but it is a very, very different approach.
“First of all, this is Italian processing taking place in Albania. It has UNHCR oversight, so it is being monitored to make sure that it meets international standards.
“It’s being done in cooperation between those two countries, and what they’re actually doing is looking at those people who arrive in Italy, who have come from predominantly safe countries, and they’re using it as a way to try and fast-track decisions and returns.”
She also told the BBC there were four areas the Italians had pursued which interested the UK Government.
Alongside the Albania programme, she listed the Meloni government’s work tackling “organised immigration crime”, as well as work “upstream” in North African nations to prevent migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and a “major returns” scheme.
Ms Cooper said: “They’re speeding up returns for those who don’t have a right to be there. We’ve been doing that through the summer as well, so we’ve had a substantial increase in returns for people who don’t have a right to be in the UK, because the rules need to be respected and enforced.”
Responding to criticism of Italy’s migration policy, the Home Secretary added: “We’ve always had a history of working with governments that have different political parties that are not aligned.
“That is a sensible thing for any government to do. We have to work with democratically elected governments, particularly those who are our nearest neighbours, and particularly those where we have shared challenges that we have to face.”
Sir Keir announced he was axing the previous Tory administration’s Rwanda deportation policy as one of his first moves in office, and declared ahead of his visit to Italy there would be “no more gimmicks” to curb migration.
He and Ms Cooper recently held a summit to tackle the gangs facilitating English Channel small boat crossings, as they refocus migration policy on organised crime.
