UK’s Starmer seeks to learn from Meloni’s tough migration policies at Rome meeting

UK prime minister looks for ‘new solutions’ on tackling the flow of migrants in small boats to Britain’s southern shores

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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy on Monday. Photo: LaPresse via Zuma Press / dpa

Published: 5:30am, 17 Sep 2024Updated: 1:16pm, 17 Sep 2024

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday praised the migration policies of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni as the centre-left British leader aimed to learn how her nationalist conservative government has made “remarkable progress” in reducing the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores by boat.

The meeting in Rome between the two leaders came after at least eight seaborne migrants died off the French coast over the weekend trying to cross the English Channel.

The Labour Party prime minister is not a natural ally of Meloni, who heads the far-right Brothers of Italy party. But migration has climbed the UK political agenda, and Starmer hopes Italy’s tough approach can help him stop people fleeing war and poverty trying to cross the channel in flimsy, overcrowded boats.

More than 22,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing from France so far this year, a slight increase from the same period in 2023. Several dozen people have died in their attempts, including the eight killed when a boat carrying about 60 people ran aground on rocks late on Saturday.

The number of migrants arriving in Italy by boat in the first half of this year was down 60 per cent from 2023, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, and migration formed the core of the leaders’ talks at the Villa Doria Pamphilj, a 17th-century mansion set in a large park not far from the Vatican.

Migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to reach Britain get on an inflatable dinghy in Wimereux, France. Photo: Reuters

At a joint news conference, Starmer said Italy had made “remarkable progress” by cracking down on smuggling gangs and “working with countries along migration routes as equals”.