Starmer seeks Italy’s migration strategies amid channel crisis

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday. Starmer, a centre-left leader, aimed to understand how Meloni’s right-wing government has significantly reduced the number of migrants reaching Italy by boat. This visit followed the tragic death of eight migrants off the French coast over the weekend, trying to cross the English Channel.

Starmer, from the Labour Party, isn’t a natural ally of Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party. However, migration has become a pressing issue in the UK. Starmer hopes Italy’s stringent measures can help him address the challenge of people attempting to cross the channel in dangerous, overcrowded boats. Over 22,000 migrants have made this perilous journey from France this year, a slight increase from the same period in 2023. Several have died, including the eight who perished when a boat carrying around 60 people struck rocks on Saturday. On the same day, 14 boats carrying 801 migrants reached Britain.

Italy’s Interior Ministry reported a 60% decrease in migrants arriving by boat in the first half of this year compared to 2023. This drop was a key topic during the leaders’ discussions at the Villa Doria Pamphilj, a 17th-century mansion near the Vatican. At a joint news conference, Starmer praised Italy’s “remarkable progress” in tackling smuggling gangs and collaborating with countries along migration routes. He emphasised the importance of preventing people from travelling in the first place.

‘Are you interested in having a third-party country, where we send asylum seekers?’

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is ‘interested’ in Italy’s deal with Albania to send migrants there after they are rescued at sea.

Within days of taking power, the PM cancelled the UK’s… pic.twitter.com/LBqjXH9rtN

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 16, 2024

Meloni, who promised a crackdown on migration after taking office in 2022, has taken various measures to deter migrants. Italy has signed deals with African countries like Tunisia to block departures, restricted the activities of humanitarian rescue ships, and targeted traffickers. Additionally, Italy has an agreement with Albania to transfer some adult male migrants to Albania while their asylum claims are processed. Meloni shared this information with Starmer, who expressed interest but noted that the outcome of the Albania model remains uncertain.

Refugee groups and critics have expressed concern over Italy’s tough stance on migration and the broader trend of stricter asylum rules in Europe. Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s right-wing League and deputy prime minister in Meloni’s government, faces accusations of alleged kidnapping for preventing a rescue ship with over 100 migrants from landing in Italy in 2019. Meloni dismissed concerns that the Albania agreement could violate migrants’ rights, asserting that it complies with Italian law.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper defended the UK government’s decision to seek advice from Italy’s right-wing administration. She emphasised the importance of targeting criminal gangs that endanger lives. Starmer, accompanied by newly appointed UK Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt, toured Italy’s National Coordination Center for Immigration in Rome. Hewitt, a former head of Britain’s National Police Chiefs’ Council, will collaborate with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to combat people-smuggling networks.

Before the trip, Starmer promised “no more gimmicks,” a reference to the previous Conservative government’s abandoned plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda. Starmer scrapped this plan, which was deemed unethical and illegal by judges. Support for Ukraine was also on the agenda, as part of Starmer’s efforts to rebuild relations with European neighbours after the UK’s 2020 departure from the EU. Meloni, unlike some European right-wing politicians, strongly supports Ukraine. Starmer met her after returning from Washington, where he discussed Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied missiles to strike targets inside Russia with US President Joe Biden.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged allies to allow the use of Western weapons to target air bases and launch sites inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that such actions would mean NATO countries are “at war with Russia.” The US has not changed its policy, restricting the use of American-provided weapons to a limited area within Russia’s border with Ukraine. Meloni reiterated that Italian law prohibits the use of Italian weaponry for offensive attacks against Russia, and that Italy’s main contribution would remain in defending Ukrainian civilians with anti-air defence systems.