He said “totally shameful” ideas about “dumping immigrants” have been normalised since Brexit
The Socialist prime minister of Albania Edi Rama has said the UK’s plan to send refused asylum seekers to “return hubs” in third countries shows the UK is in a “in a very dark place”.
Rama, who won his fourth term as prime minister last month, said the plan was an example of “totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful” ideas that have become normalised since Brexit.
He told the Guardian: “It’s one of those things that 10 years ago would simply not have not been imaginable … that Britain would look for places to dump immigrants.
“The fact that today it’s not just imaginable, it’s happening, is not because of Keir Starmer or [Rishi] Sunak doing something outrageous; it’s because of the country being in a very dark place.”
He added: “Eighty per cent of the things that are said, or are written, or are accepted as a normal part of the discourse in today’s Britain are things that [before Brexit] would have been totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful.”
Keir Starmer announced the “return hubs” policy while on a visit to meet Rama, but Rama made it clear that Albania is not part of the programme.
Rama said: “I have been clear about this since Boris Johnson asked me and Rishi asked me … I’ve always said no.”
Albania does, however, have a similar “return hubs” scheme for asylum seekers who have been refused asylum in Italy.
He said that he agreed to this scheme as since Albania’s brutal Stalinist regime collapsed in 1991, Italy had stood by his country.
He explained: “[We] have a weak spot for Italy, so when Italy asks us for something we say yes, full stop.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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