The UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has asked experts, government officials and Albania’s ambassador to London, Qirjako Qirko, for answers on why there has been a surge in crossings by Albanian citizens in recent months. They have investigated a number of allegations, including that Albanians are exploiting the Modern Slavery Act, a 2015 UK law aimed at helping victims of human trafficking.

Esme Madill, a lawyer at the Islington Law Centre, told MPs that some of her clients had been victims of human trafficking and sought help after spending months in “cannabis houses”. She said that while migration can start for financial reasons in Albania, such as paying large sums for healthcare, it can end up in “slavery” and debt, forcing them to work with organised crime groups.

Ambassador Qirko refused to accept this fact, adding that those who sought asylum as Albanians may not all be from Albania. Asked why around 35% of the 44,000 migrants who crossed the Channel this year used dinghies, he said that this figure had not been officially communicated to him by British authorities.

“We don’t have that information,” diana johnson, Chairwoman Of the house Home Affairs Committee, told Qirko.

"We don't know if they are Albanians from Albania or other countries or if they are Albanians living in other EU countries," he added.

Qirko said that the answer to illegal immigration is legal immigration and rejected claims that Albania is suffering a "brain drain" from immigration.

Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP, asked Qirko if Edi Rama really cared about the mass migration of people who would otherwise contribute to the Albanian economy. Qirko blamed the communist-era dictatorship that collapsed three decades ago as the reason why so many Albanians continue to migrate.

"It's a characteristic of the democratic world," Qirko said.

"For the same reason that Italians come here, Germans come here and the British go to Australia."