UK’s Starmer seeking third countries to set up asylum seeker ‘return hubs’ | Migration News
PM’s plans compared to Conservatives’ controversial Rwanda deportation policy, which he had dismissed as a ‘gimmick’.
The United Kingdom is talking to third countries about setting up “return hubs” to host asylum seekers refused the right to stay in the country as part of a renewed crackdown on immigration, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
The UK leader is under increasing pressure to cut the number of migrants arriving on UK shores amid the rising popularity of the far-right Reform UK Party.
He said on Thursday that he was talking to “a number of countries” about hosting the “return hubs”, which would receive failed asylum seekers who have exhausted all avenues of appeal for processing prior to deportation.
Speaking during a visit to Albania, Starmer did not specify which countries he was speaking to about the scheme, which has drawn comparisons with a plan developed by the previous Conservative government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which Starmer had dismissed as a gimmick and scrapped immediately after entering office in July.
The subject was apparently not on the agenda for Starmer’s meetings in Tirana, with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama specifying in a joint news conference that a similar returns model, which his country had agreed to with Italy last year, was a “one off” that “takes its time to be tested”.
That scheme, which could see Italian-run facilities in Albania holding up to 36,000 asylum seekers annually while their applications are fast-tracked, is currently bogged down in the courts.
Starmer admitted that establishing the facilities would not be a “silver bullet” for halting the perilous crossings of the English Channel in small boats, which have seen 12,000 people arriving so far this year, putting 2025 on course to potentially see a record high number of arrivals.
However, combined with other measures to tackle smuggling gangs, he said the plan would “allow us to bear down on this vile trade”.
Starmer claimed his new Labour government had been left a “mess” by the previous Conservative leadership, which he said had failed to process asylum claims.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said, “This will basically apply to people who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK but are attempting to stall, using various tactics – whether it’s losing their paperwork or using other tactics to frustrate their removal.”
The announcement was the latest in a host of tough new immigration policies, including plans to double the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement in the country, which are widely seen as an attempt to fend off rising support for far-right firebrand Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party.
