Keir Starmer to beg nine countries to take migrants as Labour’s immigration chaos continue.uk
Labour is scrambling to pin down countries for its “return hubs” scheme in a bid to tackle illegal migration into the UK.
Labour hopes the (Image: Getty)
Government officials have drawn up a shortlist of nine countries they hope will participate in a new “return hubs” scheme, housing small-boat migrants whose UK citizenship has been rejected overseas. Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and several countries outside Europe are Keir Starmer‘s top picks for the “return hub” destinations, although formal talks have not yet begun with any country, according to The Times. Labour is scrambling to tackle the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country after applications hit a new high in the year to March 2025, with a record-breaking 109,343 people applying for asylum over 12 months – a 17% year-on-year rise.
While ministers hope that progress will have been made by the time western Balkan leaders arrive in London for a meeting this autumn, attempts to secure agreements about taking migrants from the UK don’t appear to have gone smoothly so far. Despite insistence than Albania had “never” been considered for involvement in the scheme, the Prime Minister was left red-faced when his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama definitively ruled out the idea last week.
Over 12,000 people have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year (Image: Getty)
However, President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani has reportedly said her country would be “open” to talks over housing rejected UK asylum seekers – with senior government officials alighting on the southeast European country because of its location along a major route used by migrants travelling towards the EU.
“There’s been no formal talks with the UK on this issue,” President Osmani said last week. “It hasn’t been raised so far. We would be open to discussing it, however I can’t say more than that because I don’t know the details.”
Mr Starmer previously said the “return hubs” wouldn’t be a “silver bullet” in themselves but “a very important additional tool in our armoury” to crack down on smuggling gangs.
He also met North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski on Friday, but there has been no suggestion the two leaders discussed the asylum seeker processing plans.
The UK Prime Minister told reporters at the European Political Community Summit in Albania last week that he had been in “a number of discussions with all sorts of leaders … including about return hubs”.
Albania’s leader ruled out acting as host to the UK as part of the new scheme, however, pledging “loyalty” to the country’s existing migration deal with Italy.
It also recently emerged that more than 12,000 people have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year, putting 2025 on course to be a record year for small boat crossings.
Despite the announcement of new measures to curb arrivals, including the creation of “return hubs”, officials are said to be pessimistic about the efforts having a significant short-term impact – although Mr Starmer hopes his proposals will pose a deterrent to those considering the dangerous journey.
