The UK is starting talks with other countries to set up overseas “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers, Sir Keir Starmer has said on his first official visit to Albania.
The prime minister said the government would begin discussions about sending asylum seekers abroad for processing after their claims had been rejected in the UK.
Sir Keir has travelled to Albania to announce further measures to crack down on organised crime and illegal immigration.
The number of people crossing the Channel has passed 12,000 since January, putting 2025 on course to be a record year.
Speaking to GB News, Sir Keir said: “What now we want to do and are having discussions of, talks of, is return hubs, which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned.”
The government would not comment on which countries would be involved in the talks.
But the BBC has previously reported that the proposals are focused on countries in the western Balkans – a region which includes Albania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The proposals would apply only to asylum seekers whose claims had been rejected and who had no further routes of appeal in the UK.
It differs from the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda scheme, which was scrapped by Sir Keir and involved sending migrants to have their asylum claims processed in the African country.
Italy has a similar scheme, which involves sending failed asylum seekers to Albania while they await deportation, but that plan has been held up by legal action.
Sir Keir told GB News the return hubs would not be a “silver bullet” for halting small boats crossing the English Channel.
But he said the combination of return hubs and other efforts to tackle people smuggling gangs would “allow us to bear down on this vile trade and make sure that we stop those people crossing the Channel”.
The prime minister is also expected to announce further co-operation with Albania on tackling illegal migration and organised crime.
Speaking in Albania, Sir Keir said: “The last government lost control of the borders. I am determined that we will retake control of the borders.
“That means that we have got to have a concerted effort to smash the gangs that are running this vile trade.”
He said greater co-operation with Albania had “driven down those numbers” and that he wanted to “see more of that”.
Immigration has been a strong focus of the government this week – on Monday it set out plans to reduce the level of legal migration in a White Paper.
The government said there has been a 95% reduction in Albanian small boat arrivals in the last three years, and that the number of Albanians returned has doubled in the past two years.
The prime minister is expected to announce the expansion of the Joint Migration Task Force – which shares intelligence and carries out operations against people smugglers in the Western Balkans – to include North Macedonia.
The enhanced co-operation with Albania set to be announced will include measures to tackle a “revolving door effect”, of migrants returning home, evading law enforcement and leaving the country again, the government said.
The plans will also include:
- A new programme to help young Albanians reintegrate into society and find employment
- Funding a new forensic evidence programme to share and track DNA of criminals in Albania to solve crimes in the UK
- A further £1m investment to upgrade Albania’s forensics, biometrics and digital capability
- Greater intelligence sharing to allow local law, using UK-funded drones, to “snare gangsters” transporting migrants through the Western Balkans corridor
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp described Sir Keir’s visit as “pure theatre”.
He said: “The returns deal with Albania was decisive action taken by the previous Conservative government.”
“So why is Starmer now flying out for a handshake in Tirana to claim credit? If the scheme is already working, what exactly is this trip for?” he added.
