Labour considers plan to send rejected migrants to the Balkans

22 March 2025, 08:17

Rejected asylum seekers could reportedly be sent to the Balkans and other third-party countries under new Labour plans to tackle small boats.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government is set to propose a series of “return hubs” where asylum seekers who have had their applications rejected could be sent.

Countries including Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia are set to be included in the plans, the Times reports.

The Labour government is reportedly keen to work with European countries on these so-called “return hubs”, which echo previous Conservative plans to send migrants to Rwanda.

The proposal comes after the European Union gave member states permission to begin setting up return hubs.

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The plans were then endorsed by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration.

The Times reports the Government already has two unused migrant facilities in Albania which could quickly be transformed into the proposed “return hubs.”

A government source told the publication: “This is clearly a shared challenge right across the world and we’ve always said this international problem needs an international solution.

“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.”

Albania has previously said it would only take migrants from Italy due to the countries’ historical ties.

However, Downing Street is confident a deal can be struck, reports claim.

The government is hoping these plans will slash the number of asylum seekers living in hotels across the UK, which currently sits at 38,000.

Labour has pointed to the lengthy appeal process migrants can go through as the reason for their failure to cut numbers.

Despite the government’s insistence that this scheme is entirely different to the Rwanda plan, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “This is Labour admitting they made a catastrophic mistake in cancelling the Rwanda scheme before it even started.

“But the tragedy is it will take some time before this can be done and, in the meantime, tens of thousands of illegal migrants will have poured into the country, costing UK taxpayers billions and making a mockery of our border security.”

The plans have been slammed by refugee charities, who branded it a “headline-grabbing gimmick.”

The refugee council 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.”