Home secretary Suella Braverman to arrange for thousands of Albanians to be deported from UK

Rishi Sunak has announced plans to tighten laws around modern slavery, and outlined how 400 new specialists will work in a dedicated unit expediting asylum claims from people from the Balkan state, with plans for weekly removal flights to take people back to their home country.

UK Border Force officers will also be stationed in Tirana airport for the first time in a bid to disrupt criminal gangs under a new agreement reached with Albania. Ministers have singled out Albanians as accounting for more than a third of the 33,000 migrants who crossed the Channel in the first nine months of the year.

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This was a sharp increase compared with the 3 per cent recorded in the whole of 2021. Asylum case workers will be given new guidance making it clear Albania is a safe country and will be required to have evidence of modern slavery when considering such a claim.

As a result, the vast majority of claims from Albanians could be declared ‘clearly unfounded’ and would see ‘thousands’ returned home in the coming months, Mr Sunak said.

He recently held his first talks with Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, during which they agreed to close ‘loopholes’ preventing the rapid return of failed asylum seekers.

But Mr Rama has been angered by comments from home secretary and Fareham MP Suella Braverman, saying she was using his citizens as scapegoats for failed immigration policies. Mr Rama criticised her ‘crazy’ use of language and said she was ‘fuelling xenophobia’ after she claimed there was an ‘invasion’ of England over the Channel.

Last week Albanian ambassador to the UK Qirjako Qirko called for an end to the ‘campaign of discrimination’ against Albanians living in Britain as he was grilled over the rise in numbers crossing the Channel. He claimed children were being bullied in school ‘only because they are Albanians’ as a result of the ‘wave of activity’, he claimed.

Mr Sunak insisted Albania was a ‘safe, prosperous European country’ but MPs previously heard a third of nationals live below the poverty line.