UK asking other countries to host ‘return hubs’ for refused asylum seekers, Starmer confirms – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer confirms UK talking to other countries about getting them to host ‘return hubs’ for refused asylum seekers
Q: [From Christopher Hope from GB News] To Starmer – Which countries are you talking to about hosting ‘return hubs’ about migrants from the UK whose applications for asylum have failed?
Starmer says he is interested in using return hubs. He says he is in talks with other countries about this. But he would like to add them to the list of measures being used to tackle this problem. But he says he is not in a position to give more information about this plan yet.
Key events
Badenoch claims Starmer’s plan for ‘return hubs’ will be ‘weaker than Rwanda plan and won’t work’
The Mail Online’s story about Keir Starmer’s return hub comments in Albania today quotes a Whitehall official as describing the plan as “Rwanda-lite”.
In a post on social media commenting on a link to the Mail story, Kemi Badenoch said:
Starmer is making an effort, but this will NOT stop the boats.
People will still try their luck knowing they can stay in Britain if granted asylum so it won’t get rid of asylum hotels in the UK.
We left Labour a real deterrent. This is weaker than the Rwanda plan and won’t work.
Under the proposed Rwanda plan, which was held up by legal challenges and never implemented, the Tory government wanted to ban anyone arriving in the UK illegally from claiming asylum – regardless of whether or not they had a valid claim. In theory, they could all have been deported to Rwanda and banned from returning.
Starmer is not proposing this. Instead, he would look at a scheme that would involve removing people to a third country after their asylum application was refused.
Here are some more pictures from Keir Starmer’s meeting with the Albanian PM Edi Rama this morning.
‘Misleading’ to claim psychiatrists do not back assisted dying bill, says Kim Leadbeater
Kim Leadbeater has hit back at criticism from the Royal College of Psychiatrists over the assisted dying bill and said there had been no drop-off in support for it among MPs before a vote tomorrow, Eleni Courea reports.
As well as being exceptionally tall, Edi Rama is unusual among prime ministers in that he is a bona fide artist. He was an art professor, and his work has been exhibited in galleries.
Keir Starmer got the chance to inspect the collection of felt-tip pens he keeps in his office when they met this morning.
MPs express concerns that domestic abuse victims to be put at risk from plans to limit use of prison recall
The government has given domestic abusers an opportunity to “give another twist to the knife” for victims through planned changes to prison recall, ministers have been warned. In its report on the urgent question on “the public safety implications” of the government’s plans to limit the use of prison recall, PA Media reports:
Conservative former minister Desmond Swayne was one of a number of MPs questioning justice minister Nic Dakin on how the changes would impact victims of domestic abuse.
Under emergency measures announced by the justice secretary, some criminals serving sentences between one and four years will be returned to custody only for a fixed 28-day period.
Offenders are recalled to prison if they commit another offence or breach licence conditions, such as by missing probation appointments, when they are released early but remain on licence.
Swayne said: “Given the nature of domestic abusers, many will welcome the opportunity to give another twist to the knife at a mere cost of 28 days. Hasn’t he just presented them with a practical opportunity?”
Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire said the government has “failed to step up and tackle the sheer scale of the problem” in criminal justice capacity.
Speaking from the front bench he said: “Victims and survivors are worried about what this will now mean for them. If there was a specific offence of domestic abuse, those dangerous offenders could have been excluded from early release, but the Government has taken no action at all since the Liberal Democrats raised the solution with them last autumn. So will the minister finally commit to giving victims and survivors the protections they deserve by creating new domestic abuse aggravated offences?”
Dakin said getting things right for victims is “something we take very, very seriously and needs to be done very, very properly”.
Labour MP Laurence Turner asked to ensure that “lessons have been learned” from cases of people being murdered by prisoners on remand.
He said: “In separate cases two families in my constituency lost loved ones. They were murdered by offenders who were out on remand and who never should have been.”
Dakin said he would meet with him to take the matter further.
No 10 says return hubs could save taxpayers money by stopping refused asylum seekers using stalling tactics to stay in UK
At the Downing Street lobby briefing No 10 suggested return hubs could stop refused asylum seekers from starting a family in the UK in an attempt to use human rights laws to prevent them being sent back.
Asked about the proposal, which Keir Starmer confirmed today was something being actively discussed with other countries (see 12.41pm), the PM’s spokesperson said:
This will basically apply to people who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK but are attempting to stall using various tactics, whether it’s losing their paperwork or using other tactics to frustrate their removal.
It will ensure that they don’t have the chance to make their removal harder by using tactics such as starting a family, etc, as we have seen from cases in the past.
That obviously will reduce the cost to the taxpayer.
Starmer says ‘return hubs’ for refused asylum seekers could be ‘important innovation’
Here is the full version of the answer that Keir Starmer gave to GB News during the press conference when asked if he was considering setting up “return hubs” in other countries for migrants whose applications for asylum in the UK are refused. (See 12.02pm.) Starmer said:
Yes, we are in talks with a number of countries about return hubs.
I view them as a really important innovation, and that’s consistent with the work that we’ve done in relation to UK-Albania reduction in numbers, the work we’ve done on law enforcement arrangements with other countries, the return agreements that we’ve put in place, the record number of returns.
What I’d like to do is add return hubs to that.
We are in those talks and therefore, at the appropriate time, I’ll be able to give you further details in relation to it.
Rama says relations with UK in ‘new era’, after reporter asks Starmer to apologise for Tory comments about Albanians
Q: Will you apologise for the way Albanians have been treated by the UK in the past? (That seems to be a reference to what Suella Braverman said about Albanians when she was home secretary.)
Starmer says the fact that he is the first UK prime minister to have an official visit to Albania shows the respect he has for the country. He says he will not comment on the previous government.
Rama says it was not any British PM who offended Albanians. There were “a few other individuals that did it”, he says. But he says they have now been “taken out” by the British people at the election.
He says the two countries are now in a “new era” as they are building a new partnership.
And that’s the end of the press conference.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
Look, I think the fact that I’m the first British Prime Minister to be here in Albania, having a bilateral meeting, should be seen as a statement of intent as to the regard that I hold Albania and this prime minister [Edi Rama].
I won’t comment on previous prime ministers in Britain, but my approach is not megaphone diplomacy. It is to do the hard yards of actually dealing with the problems that we have to address.
And Rama said:
Cursing the Albanians was not a good idea, because the curse went back and they are now out of the parliament. So, it is enough. We don’t need more than that.
Starmer confirms UK talking to other countries about getting them to host ‘return hubs’ for refused asylum seekers
Q: [From Christopher Hope from GB News] To Starmer – Which countries are you talking to about hosting ‘return hubs’ about migrants from the UK whose applications for asylum have failed?
Starmer says he is interested in using return hubs. He says he is in talks with other countries about this. But he would like to add them to the list of measures being used to tackle this problem. But he says he is not in a position to give more information about this plan yet.
Albanian PM says he would not host ‘return hub’ for migrants from UK, because he already has deal with Italy
Q: [From Christopher Hope from GB News] To Rama – It sounds like you are ruling out hosting an offshore processing centre. Is that right?
Rama says Hope is right. He says when the started this process with Italy, it was a “one-off” because of the special relationship between the two countries, and because their geographical closeness meant it “made a lot of sense”.
But other countries have asked about this. He says he has said no because Albania is “loyal to the marriage with Italy”. The others are just “loves”, he says.
The two PMs are now taking questions.
Q: [To Starmer] Did you discuss sending failed asylum seekers to Albania?
This is a reference to this Times story by Steven Swinford. He says:
Britain has opened formal talks about sending failed asylum seekers to detention centres abroad, Sir Keir Starmer has announced during a trip to Albania.
The prime minister said the government wanted to send failed asylum to “return hubs” overseas once they had exhausted all avenues of appeal. He said that it could form part of Britain’s “armoury” in dealing with illegal migration.
No 10 did not specify which countries it had entered talks with but The Times has previously disclosed that ministers were looking at hubs in the western Balkans. Potential partners could include Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia, with any deal requiring Britain to pay for each asylum seeker who has been relocated.
Starmer says he and Rama have been talking about about tackling cross-border crime. He says he likes the fact that Rama is not someone who sees a problem and just walks around it. Rama is someone who likes to tackle the problem, he says.
But he does not address the point about Albania potentially being a “return hub” for people who apply for asylum in the UK but have their applications refused.
Starmer says he is delighte dot announce the enhanced UK-Albania strategic partnership.
And he says he is also announcing a joint statement of intent on defence industry cooperation.
Keir Starmer says he is the first UK PM to come to Albania for a bilateral meeting.
It is a prelude to a meeting of the European Political Community in Albania tomorrow.
Starmer says today’s meeting is “the next chapter of our countries’ strong relationship’.
And he has seen how they are working together on issues like crime, he says.
He says he is grateful for Rama’s “bold leadership”. Their cooperation has led to an “incredible reduction” in the number of Albanians coming to the UK on small boats. (See 10.28am.)
Rama says the Albanian police and security services have been awarded a prize for their work with the UK’s Home Office.
Edi Rama is opening the press conference.
If you are watching, you may think Rama is standing on a platform. But he’s not. Politico describe him this morning as “the six-foot-seven socialist who has just won his fourth term over a MAGA-linked rival”.
Starmer holds press conference in Tirana with Albanian PM Edi Rama
Keir Starmer is now holding a press conference with his Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama.
There is a live feed at the top of the blog.
UK will miss ‘best chance to accelerate growth’ without ‘serious’ reset with EU, MPs say
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian correspondent covering trade and Brexit.
The Commons business and trade committee (BTC) today said the goverment “must not shy away from difficult decisions and trade offs” as it renegotiates its relationship with the EU.
In the absence of a green paper on the reset with the EU, the committee has published a report setting out 20 policy areas it wants the government to pursue including a reduction in checks on food and drink exports, customs simplification and accelerated joint investment in energy to reach net zero climate targets.
They also call for the UK to pursue a “multi-annual” review of the fishing deal struck in Lord Frost’s trade and cooperation deal in 2020.
Liam Byrne, Labour chair of the committee, said:
It’s time to face facts. If Britain wants to beat the forecasts and escape stagnation, we don’t need to pray to the bond markets — we need to unlock the Brussels dividend through a strategic reset with our biggest trading partner.
Today’s report from the BTC is a blunt warning that without a serious reset in our relationship with Europe, Britain will miss its best chance to accelerate growth and bolster security in a increasingly dangerous world. At stake is not only a new opportunity to rebuild our defences – but a huge prize to kickstart UK goods exports which have flatlined since Brexit. This summit is Britain’s opportunity to re-anchor our economic and security strategy in shared strength, not splendid isolation. Government must seize it.
The committee notes that 41% of all UK exports go to the EU, more than the US, India and Indo-Pacific combined, with some witnesses telling the committee GDP could grow by 1-1.5% or around £15bn if there was “deep” regulatory alignment on goods, even within British red lines of remaining outside the single market and customs union.
EU and UK at loggerheads over fishing rights and youth mobility
EU member states have rejected UK positions on fishing and a youth mobility deal as tensions mount before a much-anticipated summit between Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen next week, Jennifer Rankin and Lisa O’Carroll report.
