Starmer, Meloni holding talks on curbing migrant boats reaching UK and Italy

Rome: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday, as the two very different politicians, from left and right, seek common cause to curb migrants reaching their shores by boat.

The visit comes after at least eight seaborne migrants died off the French coast over the weekend.

Support for Ukraine is also on the agenda for the trip, part of Starmer’s effort to reset relations with European neighbours after Britain’s acrimonious 2020 departure from the European Union.

The centre-left Labour Party prime minister isn’t a natural ally of Meloni, who heads the far-right Brothers of Italy party.

But migration has climbed the UK political agenda, and Starmer hopes Italy’s tough approach can help him stop people fleeing war and poverty trying to cross the English Channel in flimsy, overcrowded boats.

More than 22,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing from France so far this year, a slight increase from the same period in 2023.

Several dozen people have perished in their attempts, including the eight killed when a boat carrying some 60 people ran aground on rocks late Saturday. The same day, 14 boats carrying 801 migrants reached Britain.