Sunak seeks to prioritise immigration at leaders’ meeting

RISHI Sunak is seeking to put “tackling illegal migration top of the international agenda” at a gathering of European leaders in Moldova.

The Prime Minister is stressing the need for collaboration on the “global issue” at a meeting of the European Political Community.

While there, he is expected to announce the start of negotiations on a new returns agreement with Moldova to allow the UK to send Moldovans found to be in violation of immigration law back to their home country.

However, the value of such a pact would be disputable, as only one Moldovan was recorded by the Home Office as having arrived in the UK on a small boat this year.

Only 17 were found to have arrived via unauthorised means between January 2018 and March this year, according to the department’s data.

It comes as a similar deal with Georgia enters into force.

Mr Sunak tweeted: “I’m meeting European leaders in Moldova today, putting tackling illegal migration top of the international agenda.

“We’ve already made migration agreements with Albania, France and the EU to stop the boats.

“This global issue requires collaboration and the UK is taking the lead.”

The Times reported that Britain would also target Turkey and Bulgaria as part of efforts to tackle small boats crossing the Channel, with the paper saying Border Force had evidence that Turkey had become a main hub for the manufacture of the dinghies used.

Mr Sunak was also expected to announce an increase in bilateral intelligence-sharing with Bulgaria to crack down on criminal gangs involved in illegal migration.

The Prime Minister met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for Ukraine to be admitted to Nato as he addressed the gathering near his nation’s border.

Mr Sunak was also to meet with his Spanish and Polish counterparts Pedro Sanchez and Mateusz Morawiecki.

“Europe is facing unprecedented threats at our borders. From (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s utter contempt of other countries’ sovereignty to the rise in organised immigration crime across our continent,” the Prime Minister said ahead of his trip.

“We cannot address these problems without Europe’s governments and institutions working closely together.

“In every meeting, every summit, every international gathering like this, the security of our borders must be top of the agenda.”