Ex-police chief to lead efforts to tackle small boats

> He will join Sir Keir Starmer on a visit to Rome on Monday, where the prime minister will meet his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni to learn from her country’s approach to tackling illegal migration.

> Italy has recently seen a dramatic fall in the number of migrants making the dangerous crossing from north Africa.

It’s interesting, as Italy has a *far* bigger problem with boats than we do. We get a couple thousand fake asylum seekers a year crossing via boats. Italy gets tens of thousands of fake asylum seekers from North Africa and (to a lesser extent) the Middle East boating onto their shores.