There was clear alignment between Britain's Rishi Sunak, a Conservative who supports deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d'Italia party. Despite promising "change" to the British people, Labour's Keir Starmer followed in his predecessor's footsteps by reinforcing friendly ties with his Italian counterpart during his first official visit to Rome on Monday, September 16.
Beneath a radiant sun, with the superb Villa Doria Pamphili in the background, Starmer expressed that it was "fantastic to be here" and praised Italy's "remarkable progress" in limiting migrant arrivals and combating smuggling gangs.
Following yet another tragedy in the English Channel, where eight people lost their lives when their fragile boat sank on the night of Saturday, September 14 off the coasts of Northern France, Starmer is under pressure to address the ongoing arrival of asylum seekers on British soil. According to the Home Office, 801 people successfully crossed the Channel on September 14.
With almost 22,000 crossings since January 1, 2024, migration is a major concern across the Channel. The racist riots in early August showed that far-right agitators are capable of exploiting fears and fantasies about migrants to incite violence. Downing Street is also alarmed by the breakthrough of the anti-migrant party, Reform UK, which secured five seats in the House of Commons in the July general election.
Starmer has, therefore, adopted a tough stance on migration, not so far removed from that of the Conservatives, though he no longer promises, like Sunak did, to "stop" boats crossing the English Channel. Upon entering Downing Street, Starmer put an end to the "Rwanda agreement," which sought to send asylum seekers to Kigali. Initially proposed by Boris Johnson, Starmer dismissed the plan as "a gimmick" during his visit to Rome. He pointed out that it would have cost hundreds of millions of pounds without any asylum seekers being deported due to ongoing legal challenges.
For now, Labour's strategy focuses on intensifying the fight against people smugglers, highlighted by the appointment on Monday of a "border security commander," Martin Hewitt, an ex-chief constable. Since Brexit, the UK can no longer rely on the Dublin Regulation to send asylum seekers back elsewhere in Europe, nor does it have a deterrent mechanism like the scrapped "Rwanda Agreement". This has led to London's interest in Italian migration solutions, especially as Italy's Interior Ministry reported a 62% decrease in arrivals during the first six months of 2024, with 33,480 people landing, compared to the same period in 2023.
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