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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday said the United Kingdom would begin talks with other countries on establishing “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers as part of efforts to tackle irregular migration.
Speaking during an official visit to Albania, Starmer told GB News, “What now we want to do and are having discussions of… is return hubs, which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned… and we’ll do that, if we can, through return hubs.”
The Labour leader is under increasing pressure to reduce the number of irregular migrants arriving in the UK, particularly those crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The issue has gained urgency amid the rising popularity of the hard-right Reform UK party, led by anti-immigration figure Nigel Farage.
During his two-day trip to the southeastern European country, cracking down on illegal migration was high on the agenda.
The visit comes after Starmer’s government, which took office following last year’s general election, scrapped a controversial plan by the previous Conservative administration to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda.
Earlier this week, Starmer also unveiled a raft of new immigration measures aimed at tightening the UK’s borders.
These include reducing the number of overseas care workers, extending the time required before migrants can apply for settlement, and introducing new powers to deport foreign criminals.
The Labour government had pledged in its election manifesto to significantly cut net migration, which stood at 728,000 in the 12 months to June 2024.
That figure followed a peak of 906,000 in 2023, a sharp increase from the average of 200,000 throughout most of the 2010s.
While legal migration has surged, the UK has also witnessed record levels of irregular migration. According to an AFP tally based on UK interior ministry data, more than 12,500 people have crossed the Channel so far this year.
