British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, on Thursday announced that the United Kingdom is entering discussions with other countries to establish “return hubs” for individuals whose asylum applications have been rejected.
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 Prime Minister faces mounting political pressure to curb the growing number of irregular migrants arriving in the UK, particularly those crossing the Channel in small boats.
This pressure has intensified with the rise of the right-wing Reform UK party, led by anti-immigration figure Nigel Farage.
Last July, the Labour-led government formally scrapped a controversial plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, a policy championed by the previous Conservative administration.
Starmer’s visit to Albania is focused heavily on migration issues, reflecting his administration’s commitment to controlling UK borders.
As part of new immigration reforms announced earlier this week, the government plans to reduce the number of foreign care workers, extend the qualifying period for settlement, and expand the authority to remove foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
These recent policy announcements are widely viewed as efforts to counter growing support for Reform UK, which saw gains during this month’s local elections.
Labour had pledged in its last general election manifesto to bring down net migration significantly. At its last count, net migration stood at 728,000 for the 12 months leading up to June.
That figure followed a peak of 906,000 in 2023, a dramatic increase from the average of 200,000 throughout most of the 2010s.
While legal migration has remained high, the UK is also grappling with a surge in irregular entries.
More than 12,500 individuals have crossed the Channel into the UK so far this year, according to figures from the Home Office compiled by AFP.