British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday to discuss tackling illegal immigration, a day after the Channel migrant ship disaster that killed eight people.
Starmer, whose left-wing Labour Party was elected in a landslide in July, has vowed to fight illegal immigration, which has been a hot issue in British politics for years.
In the immediate aftermath of Starmer’s election, right-wing riots broke out in cities and towns across England and Northern Ireland, the worst unrest in Britain since 2011, with mosques and migrant accommodation centres often targeted.
The dangerous cross-Channel journeys made by migrants from northern France have posed a thorny problem for successive British prime ministers.
Eight migrants died when an overcrowded boat capsized in the Channel on Sunday, bringing to 46 the number of people who have lost their lives trying to reach British shores this year.
Nearly 800 people crossed the Channel on Saturday, according to Britain’s Interior Ministry, the second-highest number since the beginning of the year.
Starmer has rejected plans by the previous Conservative government to send all illegal migrants to Rwanda until their asylum claims were investigated.
Instead, British media say he is interested in the strategy of Meloni, who is leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party and whose country is on the front line of the EU’s migration crisis.
In November last year, Italy signed a deal with Albania to open two centres in the Balkan country where refugees will be housed while their asylum claims are processed.
Italy will finance and manage these centres, which will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 migrants arriving on Italian shores by boat.
Migrants whose asylum claims are rejected will be sent back to their countries of origin, while those whose applications are accepted will be allowed to enter Italy.
This is a significant difference from the former British government’s Rwanda scheme, under which migrants sent to the east African country were never allowed to settle in the UK, regardless of the outcome of their claim.
The number of immigrants in Italy has declined
“It’s in the early stages yet, I’m interested in how it works, I think everyone else is interested as well,” Starmer said of the Italian plan in comments published in British media.
Starmer said he and Maloney had “already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so we will discuss that.”
Their meeting is scheduled for noon (1000 GMT), according to Meloni’s office.
Martin Hewitt, the newly appointed head of Britain’s new Border Protection Command, will accompany Starmer during his visit to Italy, his office said.
Meloni’s government also signed a deal with Tunisia, under which aid will be provided in exchange for doing more to stop migrants leaving the North African country and crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, there has been a significant decline in the arrival of migrants by sea since the beginning of the year.
Between January 1 and September 13, 44,675 people arrived in Italy, while for the same period in 2023 the figure will be 125,806.
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