Keir Starmer is reportedly set to ask Kosovo to take failed asylum seekers from Britain under the government’s new plans to establish “return hubs” to tackle illegal migration.
Kosovo is on a shortlist alongside Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and several non-European countries that are seen as possible locations for return hubs.
Despite scrapping the Rwanda scheme on his first day as PM, critics have accused Keir Starmer of reintroducing the initiative. However, unlike the Rwanda policy, which aimed to permanently relocate asylum seekers, the planned return hubs would only give them temporary accommodation while their application is being processed.
Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani, has already revealed that the country would be open to talking about housing asylum seekers.
Talking last week, she said: “There’s been no formal talks with the UK on this issue. It hasn’t been raised so far. We would be open to discussing it, however, I can’t say more than that because I don’t know the details.
“I cannot give an answer on a request that hasn’t been made so far.”
When asked about the hubs last week, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “This will basically apply to people who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK but are attempting to stall, using various tactics, whether it’s losing their paperwork or using other tactics to frustrate their removal.
“It will ensure that they don’t have the chance to make their removal harder by using tactics such as starting a family, et cetera, as we have seen from cases in the past.
“That obviously will reduce the cost to the taxpayer.”
However, the Conservatives have claimed it will “not work as a deterrent”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has insisted that the Rwanda scheme would have acted as a deterrent, whereas the return hubs are a “con on the British public”.
He said: “It’s better than nothing but it won’t work because most of the people crossing the Channel are of nationalities where they will get their asylum claims granted.
“It’s a con on the British public for Keir Starmer to claim these return hubs will have any practical effect.”
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