Around 700 Albanian families will be deported/ Rama: Disappointing statement from the British Home Secretary

2025-11-19 10:35:00, Politikë CNA

Around 700 Albanian families will be deported/ Rama: Disappointing statement

Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted today regarding the statements of the United Kingdom Home Secretary regarding the expulsion of around 700 Albanian families living there.

Through a post on the 'X' platform, Rama describes Shabana Mahmood's statements as disappointing, while accusing the British populist right of weak rhetoric.

Rama adds that Albanians are net contributors to the British economy and that Albania is, and intends to remain, one of the United Kingdom's most active allies in controlling migration.

“Quite disappointing to hear the UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, mention “around 700 Albanian families” living in taxpayer-funded accommodation after failed asylum claims as justification for resuming family returns.

How can a Labour Home Secretary so weakly echo the rhetoric of the far-right populist – and single out 700 Albanian families, a statistical dot in the ocean of Britain’s post-Brexit challenges – at precisely the moment when the UK and Albania have built one of Europe’s most successful partnerships on illegal migration?

Let me remind the Home Secretary that, thanks to intensive joint work since the end of 2022, irregular arrivals from Albania to the UK have all but disappeared. Migration control has worked. Meanwhile, the UK's mobility and visa restrictions remain a relic of the Braverman era's failure, damaging both the fundamental freedom of movement of people and the British economy itself.

Let us also be clear: Albanians are net contributors to the British economy, and the number of Albanians receiving benefits from the UK is very low compared to other communities. To single them out consistently is not politics - it is a disturbing and inappropriate exercise in demagogy.

Albania is, and intends to remain, one of the UK’s most active allies in the wider control of migration across the Balkans. The UK should seek ways to deepen cooperation with Albania on all security issues – from defence to border protection – rather than continually blaming Albanians and thus exposing the citizens of an allied nation to increasing risks, including from extremist groups that thrive on such narratives.

"Official policy should never be guided by ethnic stereotypes. This is the least that humanity expects from Great Britain," Rama wrote. /CNA