Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood of using “populist far-right” rhetoric after she pledged to deport hundreds of Albanian families whose asylum applications have been rejected.

The comment is the latest salvo in a series of clashes between the outspoken Albanian prime minister and British politicians over migration policy. 

Rama made the comment in a lengthy X (formerly Twitter) post after Mahmood defended plans to forcibly remove families who refuse voluntary return payments, highlighting what she described as around 700 Albanian families currently living in taxpayer-funded accommodation after failed asylum claims.

Rama said the remarks echoed the tone and tactics of former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman.

“Quite disappointing to hear the UK Home Secretary cite ‘around 700 Albanian families’,” Rama wrote on X, calling the group “a statistical drop in the ocean of post-Brexit Britain’s challenges”. 

“How can a Labour home secretary so poorly echo the rhetoric of the populist far-right — and single out 700 Albanian families … precisely at a moment when the UK and Albania have built one of Europe’s most successful partnerships on illegal migration?” he added.

Rama said that intensive joint efforts over the past two years had curbed irregular migration from Albania to Britain.

“Let me remind the home secretary that, thanks to intensive joint work since late 2022, irregular arrivals from Albania to the UK have almost disappeared. Migration control has worked,” he wrote.

Despite that, he said, London had maintained “mobility and visa restrictions” originally introduced under Braverman, calling them “a relic of failure”. 

Rama said the restrictions harmed “the fundamental freedom of movement of people and the British economy itself”. 

In his comments, Rama rejected suggestions that Albanian migrants were a disproportionate burden or threat.

“Albanians are net contributors to the British economy, and the number of Albanians receiving UK benefits is very low relative to other communities,” he said. “To single them out again and again is not policy — it is a troubling and indecent exercise in demagoguery.”

He warned that the narrative risked increasing ethnic tensions. “The UK should be seeking ways to deepen cooperation with Albania … rather than repeatedly scapegoating Albanians and thereby exposing citizens of an allied nation to increased risks, including from extremist groups that thrive on such narratives.”

“Official policy should never be driven by ethnic stereotyping,” he added. “That is the very least humanity expects from the great Great Britain.”

Previously, back in 2022, Rama accused ministers of targeting Albanians as “scapegoats” during a surge in small-boat arrivals to the UK and criticised a reference by Braverman, then home secretary, to “Albanian criminals” crossing the Channel as “disgraceful”. 

He has also sparred with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, including over crime statistics. In June, Rama mocked Farage’s claim that “one in 50 Albanians in Britain are in prison” as “bonkers” and “tabloid fuel,” and challenged him to visit Albania if the figures proved inaccurate.

More recently, speaking at Chatham House in October, Rama accused British politicians of turning migration into a “scapegoat for deeper political failures,” recalling anti-Albanian imagery from the Brexit campaign.

The UK government says tightening asylum enforcement, including deportations to countries deemed safe such as Albania, is essential to restoring public confidence in the immigration system.

However, aside from Rama’s comment, Mahmood’s stance has drawn criticism within her own Labour Party. Around two dozen MPs have voiced concern over her plans, while Conservatives and Reform politicians have welcomed the move and offered support to pass it through parliament.