Dudley MP brands Home Office a 'disgrace' after thousands of Albanians claim asylum in UK

Dudley North MP Marco Longhi said there was "no excuse" for allowing thousands of Albanians to claim asylum in the UK when other countries such as Germany had taken none.

It comes after a Home Affairs Committee report said there was "little evidence" that Albanians were at risk in their country and needed asylum in the UK.

The report said most of the 12,301 Albanians who came over in small boats in 2022 had claimed asylum, while 51 per cent of Albanian cases were initially accepted in the first half of the year.

The Home Office has come under increasing pressure over immigration policy, with union leaders now threatening industrial action if they are forced to implement the Government's plan to deport migrants to Rwanda.

Mr Longhi, who sits on the committee, said any staff who go on strike "should either resign or be sacked".

He added: "As politicians we are told not to single out Albania and not to have a go at the Home Office because it is 'counter-productive'.

"If people did their job, put the people of the UK first and executed Government policy then there would be no need for somebody like me to be outspoken.

"To be clear, the Home Office is a disgrace. The job of the civil service is to execute the will of the people expressed through its elected representatives.

"The civil service is helping the Labour Party, not only because they are using high levels of immigration and illegal immigration to feed a narrative that 'Brexit has failed', but they also give them ammunition by showing such high levels of acceptance of Albanian asylum claims at well over 50 per cent.

"There is no excuse for this when it is near zero per cent in other EU countries such as Germany."

The committee, which is chaired by Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, said the number of Albanians arriving in the UK in small boats had gone from 800 in 2021 to more than 12,000 in 2022.

It called on the Home Office to explain why the UK's acceptance rate for Albanians was so high. The report said: "Albania is a safe country. It is not at war and is a candidate country to join the European Union.

"There is no clear basis for the UK to routinely accept thousands of asylum applications from Albanian citizens."

The report said there were links between the rise in small boat crossings to Albanian organised crime in the UK, noting that there were more foreign national offenders in prison in England and Wales from Albania than from any other country, with 1,336 in 2022.

In a speech last week Rishi Sunak claimed the number of arrivals in the UK from Albania had plummeted over the past year – which he said proved the Government's policy on illegal migration was working.

But the PM's pledge to clamp down on small boat crossings suffered a blow when it emerged that more than 600 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK on Sunday – the highest number on a single day this year.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "This Government’s priority is stopping the boats.

"Last year, 28 per cent of those who arrived by small boat to the UK were from Albania – a safe European country and Nato ally – placing further strain on our asylum system.

"We’ve worked closely with the Albanian government to disrupt criminal gangs and deter illegal migration. In the five months to the end of May, Albanian small boat arrivals are down 90 per cent on last year and we have returned 1,800 illegal migrants and foreign criminals back to Albania.

"Thanks to changes to our asylum system, we have gone from accepting one in five Albanian asylum claims to just one in 50, in line with other European countries.

"We will carefully consider the report and respond in due course."

According to official estimates, net migration to the UK hit a record high of 606,000 in 2022.