Edi Rama with Keir Starmer.

Albania’s prime minister has accused Shabana Mahmood of “echoing the rhetoric of the populist far-right” to promote her illegal immigration crackdown.

The home secretary highlighted the fact that 700 Albanian families are “living in taxpayer-funded accommodation having failed their asylum claims” as she announced new rules to speed up deportations.

But posting on X, Albanian PM Edi Rama said: “How can a Labour home secretary so poorly echo the rhetoric of the populist far-right – and single out 700 Albanian families, a statistical drop in the ocean of post-Brexit Britain’s challenges – precisely at a moment when the UK and Albania have built one of Europe’s most successful partnerships on illegal migration?

“Let me remind the home secretary that, thanks to intensive joint work since late........

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