Starmer says UK can learn from Italy’s migrant scheme as PM insists clothing gifts didn’t break rules – live

Sir Keir Starmer and Giorgia Meloni joked and smiled as they walked together in the gardens of the Villa Doria Pamphilj in Rome, where the two leaders are meeting to discuss deepening ties on migration and economic growth.

The UK Prime Minister and his Italian counterpart waved at cameras as they stopped by a water fountain to talk, well out of earshot of watching journalists.

My colleague Archie Mitchell has the full report below:

The Government needs to take “an international approach to an international challenge” on migration, Downing Street said when asked if the UK was concerned about the treatment of migrants in countries like Tunisia.

There have been reports that some migrants have been abandoned in the North African nation.

Asked whether there were concerns about such reports, a Number 10 spokeswoman said: “Obviously we take that incredibly seriously and want to be working more closely with countries upstream.

“The principles that we’ll be following in everything that we do is that it is workable, affordable and in line with international humanitarian law.

“But it is vital that we stop people from starting these journeys, we’ve seen far too many deaths in the Mediterranean as well as the Channel.

“So it’s incumbent on us to take an international approach to an international challenge, to stop more lives being lost at sea, not just from the Channel, but also in the Mediterranean.”

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, has said the government should be restoring the UK’s “battered reputation on refugee issues” not “doing deals to offload its responsibilities”.

He said: “There should be no question of the UK doing deals to offload its responsibilities onto other countries – not Albania, Rwanda or anywhere else.

“After the Conservative government’s shameful attempt at this, the last thing needed is yet another government pursuing schemes to avoid fulfilling the UK’s comparatively modest refugee obligations rather than showing some leadership and taking responsibility.

“The Government should be trying to restore the UK’s battered reputation on refugee issues by repairing an asylum system that’s been deliberately sabotaged by successive home secretaries stretching back years.

“We need safe asylum routes to help end the exploitative practices of people smugglers, and we need a fair and efficient system for processing people’s asylum claims however they arrive.”