Albanian PM accuses Mahmoud of ‘racial stereotyping’

Albania’s prime minister has accused Interior Minister Shabana Mahmoud of “racial stereotyping” after she named an Albanian family in a speech about abuse of the asylum system.

Edi Rama criticized Mahmoud after he told MPs on Monday that around 700 Albanian families were “living in taxpayer-funded accommodation after their asylum claims failed”.

Rama said the figure was “a drop in the statistical ocean of the challenges the UK faces post-Brexit”.

Official figures show that Britain has deported more than 13,000 people to Albania since a repatriation deal was signed in 2022. Rama called the agreement one of “Europe’s most successful partnerships in the fight against illegal migration.”

Mahmoud’s comments came after she Announcing breaking changes Britain’s ‘out of control and unfair’ asylum system.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mahmoud said: “If we fail to respond to this crisis, we will send more people down a path that starts with anger and ends with hatred.”

The reforms would make refugee status temporary, extend the waiting time for permanent settlement from five to twenty years, and allow families with children to leave who have no right to stay.

As well as tightening access to refugee status, the UK will create new legal routes into the UK and set an annual cap on numbers.

As part of his speech, Mahmoud told MPs “we must remove those who have failed to claim asylum, no matter who they are”.

She added: “For example, around 700 Albanian families living in taxpayer-funded accommodation have been denied asylum applications despite existing repatriation agreements and Albania being a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Rama posted on social media: “How can the Labor home secretary respond so poorly to the rhetoric of the populist far right – at a time when the UK and Albania have forged one of Europe’s most successful partnerships on illegal immigration, he lists only 700 Albanian families, which is statistically a drop in the ocean of the challenges the UK faces post-Brexit?”

“Let us also be clear: Albanians are a net contributor to the UK economy and the number of Albanians receiving UK benefits is very low relative to other communities.

“Provoking them again and again is not policy, but an act of incitement that is disturbing and indecent.

“Official policy should never be driven by racial stereotypes. It is the least that humans can expect from our great Britain.”

Rama has repeatedly clashed with British politicians over the characterization of Albanian nationals.

In May, Sir Keir Starmer traveled to the Albanian capital Tirana, only to be told by Rama that he would not be setting up a UK “return center” for failed asylum seekers from other countries.

At the same press conference, Rama accused the previous Conservative government of “slandering” Albanians and warned that “cursing Albanians is not a good idea because the curse is back and they have now left parliament.”

Rama, a combative figure on social media, has also previously invited UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage to Albania to debate his claims that one in 50 Albanians in the UK are jailed.

Rama dismissed the figure as “crazy” and accused Farage of peddling “post-truth Brexit playbook” politics.