Albanians in Britain are being scapegoated by rightwing media and politicians, according to the Albanian ambassador, Uran Ferizi. In a letter to the Guardian, he criticised the 'obsession' with demonising Albanians, saying it has reached the parliamentary dispatch box. He singled out Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for comments in parliament where she named Albanians when discussing immigration problems.
Ferizi, who came to Britain as a teenage stowaway and later studied mathematics at Oxford, took issue with misreporting of statistics in the Telegraph and other media about Albanian involvement in UK crime. He argued that selective statistics are stripped of context and amplified, particularly when elections are looming. He cited a 2024 Daily Telegraph analysis claiming one in 50 Albanians in the UK was in prison, but said this ignored basic statistical procedures. When weighted by actual population and controlled for sex, age and income, Albanians are imprisoned at the same rate as native-born Britons, he said.
The ambassador also criticised politicians of overseas heritage, including Mahmood and Suella Braverman, for attacking migrants who followed them. He said the impact of negative portrayals has been felt by Albanian workers, families and schoolchildren. Examples cited to the Guardian included a tech professional reluctant to share a LinkedIn post after colleagues made comments about Albanians being 'criminals and dangerous', and a man who was told at a work function: 'I thought all Albanians were criminals.'
Ferizi likened the scapegoating to that experienced by previous immigrant groups, including Jews, Irish and Poles. A Home Office spokesperson said the UK highly values the Albanian community and their contribution to society.
