UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in Rome to learn from Italy's approach to tackling illegal migration, after Rome struck a deal on migration with EU candidate country Albania. 

Last November, Italy and Albania signed a five-year agreement under which Albania will shelter up to 3,000 migrants rescued from international waters each month while Italy processes their asylum requests. With asylum processes taking about a month, up to 36,000 asylum seekers could be hosted annually.

This arrangement aims to expedite the asylum process and alleviate the pressure on Italy's borders, and Prime Minister Georgia Meloni hopes that its deal with Albania will become a model for fellow European countries.

The need for effective measures to stop small boats crossing into the UK was underscored recently when eight people died attempting to reach England from France. 

Speaking to journalists ahead of the Rome visit, Starmer said, "No more gimmicks. This government will tackle the smugging gangs who trade the lives of men, women and children across borders.”

Meloni confirmed to a joint press conference on September 16 that Starmer had shown interest in the agreement with Albania. 

Comparisons have been drawn between Italy’s deal with Albania and the UK’s controversial Rwanda deal, scrapped soon after Starmer’s government came to power. 

However, a key difference is that under the Rwanda plan, migrants would have had to stay in Rwanda even if granted refugee status.

Italy has already experienced a 60% drop in illegal migration across the Mediterranean Sea over the past year. 

In Rome, Starmer highlighted the "quite dramatic reductions" in irregular migration to Italy, adding: "I want to understand how that came about.” 

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News, "We will be interested to see how [the Albania scheme] develops. We've always said we would look at what works." 

Meloni has positioned the Albanian deal as a potential model for other EU member states. However, relocating asylum seekers from Italy to outside the EU has been met with controversy. 

In Albania, 30 opposition lawmakers challenged the agreement in the Constitutional Court on human rights grounds. The main opposition Democratic Party argued that the deal infringed upon the country's constitution by relinquishing sovereignty over Albanian soil to another nation.

However, the Constitutional Court dismissed these claims, giving the green light to proceed. The agreement has since been ratified by the Albanian parliament where Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party has a majority.

The agreement has strengthened Italy-Albania relations, with Italy expected to bolster its support for Albania's EU accession process. Italian investments in Albania span various sectors, including energy, agriculture, telecoms, and infrastructure. The two countries also share strong trading ties, particularly in the clothing and textile industry.