Don't blame us for UK border problems, says Albanian PM

The UK should stop discriminating against Albanians to excuse “policy failures”, the country’s PM has said.

Edi Rama said “rhetoric” that blamed his citizens for the UK’s crime and border problems ignored the facts.

Albanians now make up the biggest group of those crossing the Channel, following a big increase in arrivals in the past two years.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said many of them were “abusing our modern slavery laws”.

UK ministers have said they want to “fast-track” Albanian arrivals so their asylum claims are assessed more quickly.

In a Tweet Mr Rama said: “Targeting Albanians (as some shamefully did when fighting for Brexit) as the cause of Britain’s crime and border problems makes for easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact.

“Repeating the same things and expecting different results is insane.”

He said Albanians in the UK “work hard and pay tax”, adding: “[The] UK should fight the crime gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminating [against] Albanians to excuse policy failures.”

Mr Rama said he was “ready to work closer” with the UK but “facts” and “mutual respect” were crucial.

Last week, MPs were told 12,000 Albanians had arrived in the UK after crossing Channel so far this year, compared to 50 in 2020.

Of these 10,000 were men – representing 1% of Albania’s adult male population.

Last week, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the government was looking at setting up a “bespoke route” for Albanians to have their immigration cases heard more quickly so they can be returned to Albania if their claims are unsuccessful.

On Monday, Ms Braverman agreed with suggestions from Conservative MP Lee Anderson that “Albanian criminals” were leaving a safe country to come to the UK.

He said if accommodation in the UK was not good enough for them they could “get on a dinghy and go straight back to France”.

Ms Braverman has been widely-criticised for describing the increasing number of migrants arriving on the south coast of England as an “invasion”.

The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk said it was “a horrible word” and politicians had to make sure their language did not “add fuel to the fire on issues that are about human beings”.