A day after another shipwreck involving Channel migrants claimed eight lives, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets Italian colleague Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday to talk about combating illegal immigration.
After garnering a resounding parliamentary majority in July, Starmer’s center-left Labour party has pledged to combat illegal immigration, a contentious issue in British politics for many years.
Shortly after Starmer’s victory, far-right riots rocked towns and cities around England and Northern Ireland, causing the worst unrest the country has seen since 2011. Mosques and centers for migrant accommodation were frequently attacked.
The dangerous voyages across the Channel that migrants attempt from northern France have presented a remarkably challenging issue for successive British prime ministers to resolve.
The number of migrants who have perished this year while attempting to reach British shores has now reached 46 after eight perished on Sunday after their overcrowded boat overturned in the Channel.
According to the UK interior ministry, about 800 migrants crossed the Channel on Saturday, making it the second-highest number since the year’s beginning.
The former Conservative government’s proposal to send all undocumented immigrants to Rwanda while their asylum requests were being investigated was rejected by Starmer.
Rather, the UK media reports that he is intrigued by the approach of Meloni, the far-right Brothers of Italy party leader, whose nation is in the forefront of the EU’s migration crisis.
Italy and Albania inked a deal in November of last year to establish two facilities in the Balkan nation where refugees would be housed while their asylum requests were being handled.
The centers, which may house up to 3,000 migrants who arrived on Italian soil by sea, will be financed and run by Italy.
While individuals whose petitions for asylum are approved will be allowed access into Italy, those whose claims are denied will be returned to their home country.
This is a significant departure from the Rwanda program of the former UK government, which prohibited migrants sent to the East African country from ever settling in Britain, regardless of the resolution of their claim.
