Can Meloni and Sunak unite to tackle Europe's migrant crisis?

The number keep rising. Italy’s Interior Ministry announced at the weekend that 35,085 migrants have arrived on their shores this year, an increase of 27,000 on the same period in 2022. In England meanwhile, 497 migrants landed on the Kent coast on Saturday, a new daily record for crossings.

So the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to London this week is well timed. She and Rishi Sunak will have much to discuss, aware that to a large extent their political futures hinge on whether they can stop what some of their ministers have termed an ‘invasion’.

Last week, one of Meloni’s cabinet went further. Agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida enraged the Italian left when he stated: ‘Italians are having fewer children, so we’re replacing them with someone else. That’s not the way forward.’