LONDON - Britain will step up its efforts to tackle criminal networks across the Western Balkans that facilitate illegal migration, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday, days after he announced a major set of reforms to help reduce legal migration.

Losing ground in the polls to Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform Party, Starmer is under pressure to show he can control both legal and illegal immigration, and that on the latter his plan to target people smuggling gangs is working.

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In his first official visit to Albania, Starmer will announce measures to stop Albanian nationals from returning to Britain after they have been deported and do more to eliminate money laundering between the two countries. He will donate two forgery detection machines to catch those using fake passports.

He will also announce the expansion of a joint migration task force to add North Macedonia and Montenegro. The group already includes Albania and Kosovo.

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In 2022 Albanians made up the largest group heading to Britain on small boats but the number has since fallen sharply, in part due to a deportation deal agreed by the previous Conservative government.

On legal migration - which makes up the vast majority of those coming to Britain - Starmer promised on Monday to cut net arrivals significantly, saying the country risked becoming "an island of strangers" without tougher rules.