British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he’s looking to his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni for lessons on tackling what is known as irregular migration, as Britain’s leader grapples with an issue fueling a rise in Western democracies of right-wing parties that are not natural allies of his Labour government.
Speaking after their meeting and working lunch in Rome on Monday, Starmer signaled he’s watching how Italy’s plan to process asylum applications offshore in Albania pans out, and that he’s also interested in measures Meloni has taken in migrants’ countries of origin to cut arrivals in Italy "quite significantly.”
He repeatedly referred to his apparent willingness to listen to overseas right-wing politicians on immigration as "pragmatism” as he looks for ways to stem the flow of migrants across the English Channel.
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