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

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