By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday confirmed that the UK is in discussions with several countries to establish "return hubs" abroad for failed asylum seekers.

The announcement came during a joint news conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Albania, where Starmer described the offshore hubs as “a really important innovation” designed to complement wider international efforts to crack down on illegal migration.

These discussions mark a significant policy development nearly a year after the Labour government scrapped the Conservative-backed Rwanda deportation scheme.

The proposed return hubs would hold individuals who have been refused asylum in the UK but cannot immediately be returned to their countries of origin.

Downing Street said the scheme would target people “who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK,” but who may be employing delaying tactics, such as “losing their paperwork.”

“What I’d look to do is add return hubs to that,” Starmer said, referring to the government’s broader immigration strategy.

He declined to name the countries involved in the ongoing discussions but stated more details would be shared “at the appropriate time.”

The key distinction between this proposal and the defunct Rwanda plan is that the latter would have seen all illegal arrivals sent abroad immediately.

In contrast, the new strategy targets only those whose asylum claims have already been denied.

Albania, which has received dozens of migrants from Italy, has ruled itself out as a potential destination for UK migrants.

“We have been asked by several countries if we were open to it, and we said no, because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy, and the rest is just love,” Rama told reporters.