Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood of “ethnic stereotyping” following her remarks singling out Albanian families in a recent speech about the asylum system.
Rama criticized Mahmood’s statement to MPs that approximately 700 Albanian families were “living in taxpayer-funded accommodation having failed their asylum claims,” which was made during an announcement of significant reforms on Monday.
Rama dismissed the figure as a “statistical drop in the ocean of post-Brexit Britain’s challenges.”
Official data indicates that the UK has deported over 13,000 individuals to Albania since a returns agreement was established in 2022. Rama has lauded this agreement as one of “Europe’s most successful partnerships on illegal migration.”
Mahmood’s comments coincided with her announcement of major changes to the UK’s asylum system, which she described as “out of control and unfair.”
Addressing the House of Commons, Mahmood asserted, “If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.”
The proposed reforms include making refugee status temporary, extending the waiting period for permanent settlement from five to 20 years, and facilitating the removal of families with children who are deemed to have no right to remain.
In conjunction with stricter access to refugee status, the UK plans to establish new legal pathways to entry, subject to an annual cap on numbers.
During her address, Mahmood told MPs that “we must remove those who have failed asylum claims, regardless of who they are”.
She elaborated, “There are, for instance, around 700 Albanian families living in taxpayer-funded accommodation having failed their asylum claims – despite an existing returns agreement, and Albania being a signatory to the European convention on human rights.”
In a social media post, Rama questioned, “How can a Labour Home Secretary so poorly echo the rhetoric of the populist far-right – and single out 700 Albanian families, a statistical drop in the ocean of post-Brexit Britain’s challenges – precisely at a moment when the UK and Albania have built one of Europe’s most successful partnerships on illegal migration?”
He added, “Let us also be clear: Albanians are net contributors to the British economy, and the number of Albanians receiving UK benefits is very low relative to other communities.”
“To single them out again and again is not policy – it is a troubling and indecent exercise in demagoguery.”
“Official policy should never be driven by ethnic stereotyping. That is the very least humanity expects from the great Great Britain.”
Rama has previously engaged in disagreements with British politicians regarding their characterizations of Albanian nationals.
In May, Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Tirana, the Albanian capital, resulted in Rama informing him that he would not host UK “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers from other countries.
During the same press conference, Rama accused the former Conservative government of “stigmatising” Albanians and warned that “cursing the Albanians was not a good idea, because the curse went back and they are now out of the parliament”.
Known for his active social media presence, Rama has also extended an invitation to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to debate his claim that one in 50 Albanians in Britain are incarcerated.
Rama dismissed the figure as “bonkers” and accused Farage of employing “post-truth Brexit playbook” politics.
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