Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama launched a sharply worded response to British politician Nigel Farage on Monday, accusing him of spreading false and inflammatory claims about Albanian migrants in the UK, and inviting him to visit Albania for a “facts-based” discussion as his guest of honour.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Rama addressed Farage directly, referencing the former Brexit Party leader’s recent statements suggesting that “one in three, maybe one in four” Albanians in the UK were criminals — a comment Rama called “scare tactics dressed up as data.”
“Really?! You don’t know?” Rama wrote, quoting Farage’s uncertain estimates. “This comes after you say you double-checked the numbers?”
Rama said Farage was ignoring both official figures and common sense, and instead recycling populist rhetoric. Citing data from the Albanian Embassy in London, Rama said the actual number of Albanians in the UK was not 53,000, as initially suggested by The Telegraph, but “well over 300,000.”
“These are people teaching your children, building your homes, caring for your elderly and your sick,” Rama said. “They are not meat for the post-Brexit brainwashing propaganda teeth. They are part of the living, breathing fabric of your society.”
Farage has made Albanian migration a frequent talking point, particularly in the context of UK asylum policy and crime. But Rama accused him of turning a community into a scapegoat, saying Britain’s “post-traumatic political stress” in the aftermath of Brexit did not justify “cheap shots” at immigrants.
“Why is it so difficult to admit you got it wrong, without dragging through the mud an entire community of great, hardworking people?” Rama asked.
He also criticised Farage’s use of data, pointing out that even the newspaper Farage referenced — The Telegraph — had admitted its analysis may have underestimated the number of Albanians in the UK and lacked reliable demographic breakdowns.
Rama concluded by inviting Farage to visit Albania as “guest of honour,” expressing hope that the trip would inspire him “to fight for ideas, rather than against people,” in line with what Rama described as Britain’s liberal democratic tradition.
Shortly after Rama’s post went viral, Farage responded via X: “I accept Prime Minister @EdiRamaal’s invitation to visit Albania as his guest of honour. We will discuss the return of Albanian prisoners.”
There was no immediate response from the UK government. The exchange comes as migration remains a hot-button issue in British politics, with Albanian nationals frequently referenced in debates over Channel crossings, organised crime, and post-Brexit immigration policy.