Rishi Sunak claims 'stop small boats' plan is working as Albanian immigrants avoid Britain

4 June 2023, 23:14 | Updated: 4 June 2023, 23:15

The prime minister will use a speech in Dover to claim he is already stemming the flow of small boats on Britain's southern coast.

Rishi Sunak will argue on Monday that the apparent collapse in arrivals from Albania proves the government's tough talk on migration is working.

It's thought just one percent of those making the perilous journey across the Channel aboard small boats started their journey in the south-eastern European country.

That's compared with up to thirty percent earlier this year, The Telegraph reported.

It comes as the government announced plans to have migrants share hotel rooms, prompting protests at one central London accommodation.

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Around 400 government case workers have been assigned to deal with the backlog of almost 17,000 Albanian immigrants making asylum claims via the Home Office.

"Stop the boats" is one of the government's five key pledges for Britain that it hopes will return the Conservatives to power at the next general election.

The government's flagship Illegal Migration Bill, which would put the so-called Rwanda Plan on the statute books, passed through the House of Commons in late April.

Its journey through the House of Lords resumes on Monday.

It comes after Home Office minister Robert Jenrick admitted that only hundreds of Albanian immigrants who arrived on small boats have been processed and deported.

He told Sky News on Sunday: “The reason that we are returning Albanians is to deter people from coming in the first place, and that is succeeding."

A spokesman for the Home Office said on Friday that asylum accommodation is offered on a “no-choice basis” and that its hotels meet “all legal and contractural requirements”.

Footage from inside the Comfort Inn as migrants camp outside the hotel