KEIR Starmer is considering sending asylum seekers to migrant centres in the western Balkans and other third-party countries, according to reports.
The Labour government is reportedly drawing up proposals to open a series of “return hubs” overseas where migrants who have been rejected for asylum would be sent.
UK Government sources have reportedly told The Times ministers are planning to approach countries in the western Balkans including Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia to establish the scheme.
According to The Times, Britain would pay countries for each failed asylum seeker relocated under the scheme with Starmer “keen” to establish the return hubs.
However, refugee charities have criticised Labour’s proposal calling them unworkable.
One minister told The Times there are currently two migrant detention centres in Albania lying empty that could be transformed into a return hub.
However, Italy had similar plans to use them as asylum processing centres which were blocked by domestic courts.
UK Government sources reportedly said migrants who would be sent to return hubs could include those from countries the UK does not have a returns agreement with.
This would mean rejected asylum seekers from countries deemed unsafe under UK law, such as Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia, could be removed to countries signed up to the scheme.
Rejected asylum seekers from countries deemed safe under UK law could also be temporarily detained in the hubs while arrangements are made to deport them to their home country, it has been claimed.
A UK Government source told The Times they are looking at an array of possible options and are keeping a “completely open mind”.
“This is clearly a shared challenge right across the world and we’ve always said this international problem needs an international solution,” they said.
“That’s why we’re looking at the widest possible set of options with a completely open mind. Any scheme we’d consider would always need to meet the test of being affordable, workable and legal.”
However, Enver Solomon (above), the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said working with people’s home countries instead of sending them to third parties would be far more successful.
He said: “Returning people who don’t have a right to be in the UK is an important part of a functioning asylum system but headline-grabbing gimmicks and knee-jerk proposals that are about sounding tough will not work.
“There needs to be a serious approach that is based on credible solutions. It may seem surprising but actually working with people to support them to return to their countries will be far more successful than shipping them to places such as Albania to be detained in prison-like conditions.”
UK Government sources reportedly ruled out the prospect of pursuing a return hub in Rwanda because Labour does not view it as a safe country.
Adding their return hubs would differ from the Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation scheme as it was designed to send migrants to the African country on a one-way flight within days of arriving in the UK without hearing their case for asylum.
The sources also said migrants were going to be housed in existing hotels and housing developments rather than detention centres and that they could only be detained if the Home Office has arrangements to remove them from the UK within a reasonable period of time.
Labour have been approached for comment.
