Albanian PM accuses Mahmood of 'ethnic stereotyping'

Albania's prime minister accused Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood of "ethnic stereotyping" after she singled out Albanian families in a speech about abuses of the asylum system.

Edi Rama criticised Mahmood for telling MPs around 700 Albanian families were "living in taxpayer-funded accommodation having failed their asylum claims" as she announced major reforms on Monday.

Rama called the number a "statistical drop in the ocean of post-Brexit Britain's challenges".

Official data show the UK has deported more than 13,000 people to Albania since a returns deal was signed in 2022. Rama called the deal one of "Europe's most successful partnerships on illegal migration."

Mahmood's comments came as she announced major changes to the UK's "out of control and unfair" asylum system.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mahmood said: "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 reforms will make refugee status temporary, extend the wait for permanent settlement from five years to 20, and allow the removal of families with children who have no right to remain.

Alongside tightening access to refugee status, the UK would create new legal routes to the UK, with an annual cap on numbers.

As part of her speech, Mahmood told MPs "we must remove those who have failed asylum claims, regardless of who they are".

"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," she added.

Posting on social media, Rama said: "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?"

"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 repeatedly clashed with British politicians over their descriptions of Albanian nationals.

In May, Sir Keir Starmer travelled to the Albanian capital Tirana only to be told by Rama he would not host UK "return hubs" for failed asylum seekers from other countries.

During the same press conference, Rama accused the previous Conservative government of "stigmatising" Albanians and warning that "cursing the Albanians was not a good idea, because the curse went back and they are now out of the parliament".

A combative figure on social media, Rama has also previously invited Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to come to Albania to debate his claim one in 50 Albanians in Britain were in prison.

Rama dismissed the figure as "bonkers" and accused Farage of peddling "post-truth Brexit playbook" politics.