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 an 'obsession' with demonising Albanians, which he said has had real-world consequences in schools and workplaces.
Ferizi singled out Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for comments in parliament where she named Albanians when discussing immigration problems. 'When a minister names a nationality in parliament, rather than a behaviour or a particular type of crime, they do not describe a problem, they create a target,' he wrote.
The ambassador also criticised the Daily Telegraph and other media for misreporting statistics on Albanian involvement in UK crime. He cited a 2024 Telegraph analysis claiming one in 50 Albanians in the UK was in prison, the worst rate of any nationality. Ferizi argued that when properly weighted for age, sex and income, Albanians are imprisoned at the same rate as native-born Britons.
Ferizi, who came to Britain as a teenage stowaway and later studied mathematics at Oxford, said it was 'particularly dispiriting' to see politicians from migrant backgrounds attacking newer arrivals. He likened the treatment of Albanians to past scapegoating of Jews, Irish and Polish immigrants.
The embassy cited cases of Albanians facing discrimination at work, including a tech professional who avoided sharing a LinkedIn post after colleagues called Albanians 'criminals and dangerous', and a man whose client assumed all Albanians were criminals. A Home Office spokesperson said the UK 'highly value[s] the Albanian co-operation' on migration issues.
