Rishi Sunak and Georgia Meloni in Delhi ahead of the G20 summit Photo: Simon Walker/No. 10 Downing Street
Rishi Sunak joins forces with the Italian Prime Minister to campaign to curb illegal migration, welcoming European leaders' «growing interest» in Rwanda-style deals.
Giorgia Meloni, who as Italian Prime Minister defended the UK's Rwanda deal, agreed at a meeting in India to drum up support for measures to combat rising levels of illegal migration.
Mr Sunak believes asylum procedures are Rwandan style. claims in third countries as key to reducing illegal arrivals, and return agreements such as the one struck between the UK and Albania to speed up the deportation of illegal migrants.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Delhi, the prime minister suggested the two leaders would use Italy's opportunity to host the G7 next year, as well as his presidency of the European leaders' summit, to «bring people together to talk about this issue.» 
Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy offer prayers during a visit to the Akshardham Hindu temple. Photo: Getty
Last week, Austria became the latest EU country to break ranks and demand that Brussels follow Britain's policy of sending illegal migrants to Rwanda to process their asylum claims. Mr Sunak said similar moves in Europe showed that «where we lead, others will follow.»
It comes amid significant pressure from MPs and Red Wall voters to deliver on his promise to stop the passage of small boats carrying migrants across Europe. Channel, Mr Sunak also said he had pressed Narendra Modi to negotiate a stronger return deal with India amid government concerns about a significant increase in the number of illegal arrivals from the country.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with Mr Modi at the G20 summit on Saturday, the prime minister said: “Without going into detail about the conversations that I have, which I never do… Overall, across the board we are trying to find opportunities for strengthening return agreements. We have done this and are doing this with other countries. We will always try to find ways to improve our return agreements, and that's definitely what we want to do.»
President US Joe Biden with Mr Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday. Photo: Getty
Mr Sunak's meeting with Ms Meloni followed previous discussions on the issue between the two leaders, who took office within days of each other in October last year.
The leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party came to power promising to block migrant boats in the Mediterranean, but as of last month the number of border crossings from North Africa to Italy had more than doubled in a year. per year to approximately 106,000.
After visiting London to meet Sunak, 43, in April, the Italian prime minister, 46, defended the UK's deal with Rwanda, saying: «I think talk of deportations or suggestions that Rwanda will be a country that doesn't respects rights and would be an inadequate or unworthy nation — this is a racist way of interpreting things.»
Ms Meloni tweeted that discussions with Mr Sunak included a «fundamental issue»; migration, “on which we are ready to intensify our bilateral cooperation”; Photo: FILIPPO ATTILI//EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
On Saturday, after meeting Ms Meloni in Delhi, Mr Sunak said: “In my first speech I said Britain would be tough but fair. And where we lead, others will follow. And I think that's starting to be confirmed. You see many other countries looking for solutions, different ways to solve this problem, be it Northern Europeans, be it Denmark, be it Austria or other countries. And so there's growing interest in how we can do this, and I always talk about it with other leaders, which is what I did yesterday.
“I sat down, had a meeting and had a drink with Georgia, the Prime Minister Italy. Obviously, this is something that she and I have talked about a lot, and we've talked again about how we can work more closely together, which is what we're already doing, but again, what are the opportunities for us to do more together to solve this common problem ? ?
The Prime Minister added: “Next year Italy will hold the presidency of the G7, next year we will host the summit of the European Political Community. We were just talking about those moments, those opportunities to bring people together to talk about this problem. So, she and I both agreed that this was an important topic that we needed to work on together. So this won't be my last conversation.»
1208 Cumulative number of arrivals of people crossing the English Channel in small boats
Ms Meloni tweeted that the meeting was an “enjoyable and useful opportunity for discussion”, including on the “fundamental issue” of migration “on which we are prepared to step up efforts”. our bilateral cooperation.”
The Italian populist leader, who gave an interview to the New York Times last year while sipping an Aperol Spritz and smoking a cigarette, preferred the same drink during a conversation with Mr Sunak on Saturday, while the prime minister -the minister got stuck in the water.
The government is currently awaiting a Supreme Court hearing at which ministers will challenge a Court of Appeal ruling that its plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda were unlawful.
It is also consistent with a past agreement year, Albania was included on the list along with the EU's «safe» countries, with the intention that the vast majority of Albanian claims would be declared unfounded and those people would be quickly deported.
In July, The Telegraph reported that ministers were seeking a separate, «tailored» agreement with Turkey, as well as an «enhanced» version of the agreement currently in place with India. British sources said Indian officials are «coming up with weird and wonderful ways» to prevent the return of migrants traveling to Britain across the English Channel.
Mr Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman understand. are concerned about the increase in illegal arrivals from the country after Indians overtook Albanians to become the second largest contingent crossing the English Channel earlier this year.
The Prime Minister added on Saturday: “We have made a huge success.” . particularly with Albania where we have returned over 3,000 illegal migrants to Albania in the last few months thanks to the deal I negotiated and the new approach to illegal Albanian migrants in the UK and this has resulted in a 90 per cent reduction in illegal crossings this year borders from Albania.
«So it just shows that these things can be very important, so we're always looking for opportunities to reinforce that.»
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