Albanians are being unfairly demonised in illegal immigration debate | Letter

These are challenging times in Britain. Economic pressure has a long history of finding a foreign face to blame. For several years now, that face has been Albanian – caricatured by certain media outlets and politicians in ways that are neither fair nor, frankly, very British.

The statistics most often cited do not bear scrutiny. For example, the Telegraph’s claim in 2024 that one in 50 Albanians in the UK was in prison was derived by selectively narrowing the total Albanian population in the UK by multiple factors, producing a ratio designed to alarm rather than inform. When adjusted for age, sex, income and residency status, the figure collapses to the British average.

The reality behind the 2022 surge in Albanian arrivals is more mundane. Post-Covid economic hardship hit southern Europe harder than most. Combined with a UK visa system towards Albanians that is badly in need of reform, it produced a wave of young people chasing a promise that social media had made to look more attainable than it was. Many borrowed or lost their savings to get here. Some were exploited by traffickers and criminal gangs. Most have since returned, having seen for themselves that the reality did not match the brochure.

What is rarely reported is that Albania cooperates more closely with British law enforcement than almost any other country on the continent. The criminals who are caught are frequently identified with Albanian police help. That cooperation is never the headline. The criminal’s nationality always is.

Albania is a Nato member. We work alongside Britain in international organisations. We admire it – its literature, its music and its sense of justice and fair play. That sense of fair play is precisely what has gone missing from this debate. We would like it back.
Uran Ferizi
Albanian ambassador to the UK