British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome to discuss tackling illegal immigration, following another Channel migrant shipwreck that claimed eight lives.
Starmer, whose centre-left Labour Party won a parliamentary majority in July, has vowed to fight illegal immigration, a contentious issue in British politics.
Far-right riots erupted in England and Northern Ireland after Starmer’s election, targeting mosques and migrant centres.
The perilous cross-Channel journeys attempted by migrants from northern France have posed a difficult problem for successive British PMs.
Eight migrants died on Sunday after their overcrowded boat capsized in the Channel, bringing the number of people who have lost their lives this year trying to reach British shores to 46.
Around 800 people crossed the Channel on Saturday, the second-highest figure since the start of the year.
Starmer has rejected the previous Conservative government’s plan to expel all illegal migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims are examined.
Instead, he is interested in the strategy of Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who signed an agreement with Albania to open centres for migrants.
“It’s in early days, I’m interested in how that works, I think everybody else is,” Starmer said of the Italian scheme.
Starmer and Meloni will discuss joint operations to improve migration management.
Their meeting is scheduled for midday (1000 GMT), accompanied by the newly appointed chief of the UK’s Border Security Command, Martin Hewitt.
Meloni’s government has also inked a deal with Tunisia to grant aid in exchange for greater efforts to stop Italy-bound migrants.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, migrant arrivals by sea have dropped markedly since the start of the year.
