A deal with Albania on processing migrants would be part of a “pragmatic solution” to the “very tough” issue of illegal immigration, according to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Emma Reynolds.

She told GB News: “What we’re talking about is pragmatic measures to tackle migration upstream. That’s why the Prime Minister is in Albania today to work closely with the Albanian government, but also in the surrounding Balkan area, to smash the gangs, to share intelligence, to crack down on illegal immigration.

“We’re interested in what works, not what gives a good headline or the ideology behind this. We’ve got to make sure we have pragmatic solutions to what is a very tough problem.”

She added: “We’ve only been in power for nine months, but we have already set up Border Security Command, which is a new agency to ensure we’ve got the intelligence and the measures in place to crack down on those gangs, we’ve already had some successes in recent weeks with a Turkish gang that we were able to root out.

“So look, there’s still more to do, and as the Prime Minister set out on Monday, what people care about, what we’re hearing from people is that they don’t want uncontrolled immigration.

“Under the last government, we had net migration of nearly a million people. That is putting great pressure on communities, and it is putting pressure on the bonds that bond us together as a society.

“We are intent on doing something about it, as the Prime Minister set out in the immigration white paper and the plan for doing precisely that earlier this week.”

Asked if the Prime Minister’s reference to an “island of strangers” was reminiscent of Enoch Powell, she said: “The Prime Minister and the government have rejected those comparisons.

“We are talking about ensuring that we have a system that controls the numbers coming in, but at the same time, we obviously recognise that diversity in our society is a strength.

“We had people come here in the post-war period to help rebuild the country, but net migration of nearly a million people is too many, and we need to control the borders and bring the numbers down so that the pressure on communities is not unsustainable.”