The home secretary has said ministers have a “moral imperative” to stop small boat crossings, as she defended apparent attempts to learn from the Italian government’s efforts to curb irregular migration.
The prime minister will hold meetings in Rome with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Monday, with discussions set to centre around plans to tackle illegal migration.
Italy has experienced a 60 per cent drop in illegal migration across the Mediterranean Sea in the past year and has recently signed a controversial deal with neighbouring Albania.
It comes as the government finally announced its new lead Border Security Command, the former NPCC chair Martin Hewitt, who has travelled with the prime minister.
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Speaking ahead of the visit, Keir Starmer said: “No more gimmicks. This government will tackle the smuggling gangs who trade the lives of men, women and children across borders.”
The Italian prime minister signed a deal with Albania last year to send some asylum-seekers to the Balkan country and process the asylum requests there.
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Asked whether he would consider a similar agreement, Starmer said over the weekend: “Let’s see. It’s early days, I’m interested in how that works, I think everybody else is.”
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, was questioned on Monday morning about why a Labour government is interested in the migration policy of a government such as Giorgia Meloni’s, elected on a populist right-wing platform.
Cooper insisted to Sky News that the government has “always worked with other democratically-elected countries, including those led by political parties that we’re not aligned with”.
Referring to specifically to Italy’s migration policies, Cooper argued that the Italian government has “made some significant progress” in “tackling organised immigration crime.”
Noting the 60 per cent reduction in boat crossings across the Mediterranean to Italy, she praised the Italian government’s policy to work “upstream” with other countries “to prevent dangerous journeys in the first place.”
Speaking earlier on Monday morning, Cooper further defended the government’s “sensible” attempts to learn from Italy on irregular migration.
She told BBC Breakfast: “We have to work with democratically elected governments, particularly those who are our nearest neighbours, and particularly those where we have shared challenges that we have to face.”
Pressed further on potential violations of migrants’ human rights in Italy, Cooper added: “I don’t think it’s immoral to go after the criminal gangs. Quite the opposite. I think it’s actually a moral imperative to make sure that we are pursuing the criminal gangs who are putting lives at risk.”
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