Albanian prime minister Edi Rama accuses UK of having a ‘nervous breakdown’ over Channel migrants saying ministers are only blaming his country for the problem ‘to feel like they still have muscle’ – as boat carrying young male migrants arrives in Dover
- He previously attacked ‘Albanian criminals’ language used by Suella Braverman
- Albanians now make up the biggest contingent of foreign prisoners in UK jails
Albania’s prime minister has launched another scathing attack on the UK for accusing his country for fuelling the Channel migrant crisis.
Edi Rama said the UK was in ‘a bad place’ and having a ‘nervous breakdown’ over the flow of thousands of people from the continent in small boats.
He has previously attacked the language used by Suella Braverman in the Commons last year when she blasted ‘Albanian criminals’ sneaking into the UK.
Speaking at an economic event in Greece, Mr Rama said the UK was targeting his nation ‘to feel like they still have muscle’.
‘We have fought against [this language] and now we see they have calmed down a bit. But they are going through something of a nervous breakdown as a country so we have to understand them,’ he told the Delphi Economic Forum, according to the Independent.
‘It is not something we can’t understand, we have to understand them. They have lost a lot of points of reference and they are really in a bad, bad place.’
It came as a Border Force boat carrying 80 migrants picked up in the Channel arrived in Dover this morning.
Speaking at an economic event in Greece, Mr Rama said the UK was targeting his nation ‘to feel like they still have muscle’.
It came as a Border Force boat carrying 80 migrants picked up in the Channel arrived in Dover this morning
He said the UK was in ‘a bad place’ and having a ‘nervous breakdown’ over the flow of thousands of people from the continent in small boats. Pictured is Mr Rama meeting Rishi Sunak in March.
He has previously attacked the language used by Suella Braverman in the Commons last year when she blasted ‘Albanian criminals’ sneaking into the UK.
Figures showed that at least 13,000 Albanians entered Britain on small boats last year, which was just under a third of all arrivals.
Mr Rama signed a bilateral deal with Rishi Sunak in December to, in part, help tackle illegal immigration.
But he has made no secret of his distaste at remarks made by Ms Braverman and others.
But figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday show 75 per cent of Albanian nationals who have arrived illegally have since committed at least one criminal offence in the UK.
And 30 per cent of Britain’s class A drug trade is now controlled by Albanian gang lords.
Albanians – many of whom arrived illegally in Britain on lorries and small boats – are now the biggest contingent of foreign prisoners in UK jails, with 1,582 locked up here.
This year so far, 93 Albanians have been jailed – at a cost to the taxpayer of £17 million – for serious offences such as murder, rape and kidnapping and burglary, including 14 in the past week.
They include six killers, one rapist, a kidnapper, five class A drug dealers and 56 cannabis growers.
Of the 93 jailed, at least 53 came to the UK illegally, either on small boats or in the back of lorries.
Albanians made up the biggest proportion of the more than 45,000 people who crossed the Channel illegally last year.
At one stage last summer, they represented 60 per cent of arrivals in small boats.
Thousands sought asylum, even though Albania is considered ‘safe and hospitable’ by the Foreign Office.
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