Radio host Nick Ferrari couldn't contain his laughter over prime minister 's latest immigration plans, as the Labour leader plans to start "return hubs" for people who come into the UK illegally. After ditching the Conservative government's Rwanda scheme, he has been slammed for the latest move, which will see third countries used as stopping points for migrants who cross the Channel in small boats.
Those plans were shot down during the PM's trip to this week, and Nick couldn't get enough. Speaking live on his radio show, he said: "They're used to comedy over in Albania, but the idea that a British prime minister flies in floating the possibility of hubs, of renting spaces where we can take asylum seekers and illegal migrants and deposit them, a la Rwanda scheme but this time Albania... it's knocked down in front of them.
"Honestly, I don't think Norman Wisdom as Mr Pitkin could have done any better," Nick chuckled.
Starmer laid out his plans, arguing: "What now we want to do and we're having discussions on, talks on, is return hubs, which is where someone's been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned and we have to make sure they're returned effectively and we'll do that, if we can, through return hubs. That's what the talk's about."
Nick fumed: "What? Had no-one scoped it out? You've got all the way there with, quite rightly, all your security, I'm not suggesting you shouldn't for a moment. The whole press pack as well. Everyone else, all the comms directors, and it's shot down instantly.
"Is there no forward planning? This is like a Boy Scout trip and they've forgotten the tents! It's extraordinary."
Albania's PM snubbed the proposals, and Sir Keir is instead intending to have talks with Bosnia, Serbia and North Macedonia to host the hubs. Albanian PM Edi Rama said that the hubs they already have with Italy are "just a one off" because of their "very close relation" and the "geographical situation which makes a lot of sense".
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