Sir Keir Starmer promises ‘pragmatism’ on small boats amid hints government could look to Albania

The prime minister has said the UK has moved “from a government of gimmicks to a government of pragmatism” as he attempts to tackle the small boat crisis.

Sir Keir Starmer is in Rome to hold talks with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni about a range of issues, including irregular migration and her controversial plans to process asylum seekers in Albania.

Politics live: Starmer in Italy to learn from ‘dramatic reductions’ in asylum

Ahead of the meeting, he said her efforts had led to “dramatic reductions” of boat arrivals – around 60% – and he “wanted to understand how that came about”.

But pushed on whether he would be seeking to replicate the Albania scheme, which has caused concern among human rights campaigners, Sir Keir insisted his focus was still on “taking down the gangs that run this vile trade”.

“We discussed the Albania arrangement, which is not up and running yet… therefore we don’t yet know the outcome of it,” he said.

“We discussed the concept of it, along with the prevention piece as well, because the numbers here, as I’ve said, have gone down quite significantly. That’s actually not attributable, of course, to the Albania scheme because that hasn’t started.

“That, in my view, is more likely attributable to the work that the prime minister has done upstream… with some of the countries where migrants are coming from.”

He added: “I’ve always made the argument that preventing people leaving their country in the first place is far better than trying to deal with those that have arrived in any of our countries. So I was very interested in that.

“In a sense today was a return… to British pragmatism. We are pragmatists first and foremost, when we see a challenge, we discuss with our friends and allies the different approaches that are being taken, look at what works, and that’s the approach that we’ve taken today – and it’s been a very productive day.”

The Albania scheme has been compared by some to the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation plan, which Labour scrapped days after it entered office.

But the main difference is those granted asylum after processing in Albania would then be allowed to live in Italy, instead of remaining in the third country.

Pointing to his predecessor’s plans, the prime minister said: “We’ve moved from a government of gimmicks to a government of pragmatism, and that means that I’m utterly focused on what I think is the most likely deterrent and effective way of dealing with unlawful migration, and that is to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade.

“Of course it’s a problem when we’ve got people arriving into the UK who are arriving unlawfully across the Channel or any other routes. And of course, every government has the responsibility of making sure our borders are secure.

“But rather than a gimmick which, as you know, cost £700m to persuade four volunteers to go to Rwanda, we have gone down the road of pragmatism already.”

Sir Keir said his government would instead focus on the work of its new Border Security Command – whose new chief was confirmed last night as former National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Martin Hewitt – as well as sending people back to their countries of origin if they are not entitled to be in the UK and doing “upstream” work in the countries people are travelling from.

“That’s what this is about,” he said. “It’s about the politics of pragmatism. The British are very good at pragmatism. It’s what we’ve been known for over the years, which is seeing a problem and actually rolling up our sleeves and thinking through which is the most effective way to deal with it.

“Under the last government, in my view, we had a gimmick that didn’t work, and cost an absolute fortune. And we’re not interested in that.”

Sir Keir’s visit is the latest in a series of trips around Europe as he seeks to reset relations with the EU post-Brexit, calling it a “new era”.

It also comes after another 1,000 asylum seekers arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing over the weekend, with eight people dying in the Channel on Saturday night after their boat crashed into rocks off the coast of France.

Campaigners said the deaths were an “avoidable tragedy”, and Amnesty International UK repeated calls for the government to create more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to come to the UK.

A spokesperson for the group said: “The government should be trying to restore the UK’s battered reputation on refugee issues by repairing an asylum system that’s been deliberately sabotaged by successive home secretaries stretching back years.”

But earlier, a Number 10 spokesperson said there were no plans to introduce more legal asylum routes to the UK.