(Bloomberg) -- Britain’s new Labour government is planning to strike deals with countries to help stop thousands of illegal migrant crossings, the Sunday Times reported.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is looking to emulate Italy’s approach of paying millions of pounds to governments to improve security and train up coastguards to reduce the number of dangerous small-board crossings.
The “co-operation and security” agreements are expected to be finished before the end of the year, with governments including Iraqi’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, Turkey and Vietnam taking part in the discussions, the report said.
The plan comes two months after Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome, where they discussed how her right-wing government tackles so-called irregular migration.
The Italian prime minister had vowed to stymie illegal migration in her premiership campaign in 2022 and proposed a deal to resettle some asylum seekers in Albania. The first group sent last month was immediately rerouted to Italy after court objections.
The British government is seeking a new approach to stop asylum seekers from crossing the English Channel in small boats from France.
After axing the former Conservative administration’s plan to deport arrivals to Rwanda upon taking office, Starmer is now trying to bolster international cooperation and beef up border security to tackle the issue. Earlier this month, he urged international allies to treat people-smugglers like terrorists.
Small boat arrivals to the UK have risen in recent years, with around 30,661 people reaching UK shores through to the end of October this year — up about 15% on last year’s level.
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