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Lord Cameron of Lochiel (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 3 September 2025

Debate

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

Contribution

I will continue to go through the list. Let us begin with Albania. The amendment proposes to strike from the list of safe countries a NATO member and a nation with which the United Kingdom has a formal bilateral returns agreement, signed in 2022, that has been a cornerstone of our efforts to tackle illegal migration and organised criminality. It allows for the swift return of Albanians who have no right to remain in the UK and ensures that genuine protection claims are still assessed on a case-by-case basis. According to Home Office statistics, a massive proportion of Albanian asylum claims by adult males are refused. Why? It is because Albania is, by any objective measure, a safe and functioning democracy, so much so that the Prime Minister visited Albania in May to hold talks about returning failed asylum seekers. Georgia is a member of the Council of Europe, has EU candidate status, and co-operates with a range of international human rights mechanisms—

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