Sir Keir Starmer has signalled "great interest" in Italy's migrant deal with Albania, Giorgia Meloni has said.

The UK Prime Minister insisted his Government would make a return to "British pragmatism" in a bid to tackle the small boats crisis.

He also suggested he wanted to focus on "upstream" issues in other countries which push migrants to leave their nations for Europe.

The Italian Prime Minister's approach to border control has witnessed a 60% drop in arrivals by sea over the past year.

Her Government recently brokered a deal with Albania which will see illegal migrants who have entered Italy processed in the Balkan nation, a scheme which has been compared to the Rwanda plan Sir Keir's Government scrapped.

She said the pair had discussed the Albanian deal in Rome yesterday (MON), adding: "The UK Government has shown great interest in this agreement."

But Sir Keir suggested he was particularly interested in Ms Meloni's work to tackle "upstream" issues with migration.

He said Italy's reduction in unauthorised migrant numbers was "more likely attributable to the work that the prime minister (Ms Meloni) has done upstream".

Sir Keir added: "I have always made the argument that preventing people leaving their country in the first place is far better than trying to deal with those that have arrived in any of our countries. I was very interested in that.

"In a sense, today was a return - if you like - to British pragmatism."

The Italian government has faced criticism from humanitarian groups about its deals with Albania, but Ms Meloni told reporters the accusations were "groundless"

She said: "I don't know what human rights violations you're referring to, to be totally frank.

"This accusation, I think it's completely groundless."

She added that migrants sent to Albania would be dealt with under Italian jurisdiction.

More than 22,000 people have arrived in the UK by small boats so far this year - including 9,000 since the general election in July.

More than 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel over the weekend alone as eight people died trying to make the journey.

Channel crossings continued the day after news of the deaths emerged, with the Home Office recording 1,093 arrivals in two days as the tragedy unfolded.

The UK is expected to give some £4 million to an initiative called the Rome Process, an Italian government scheme to tackle the root causes of irregular migration, following the meeting of the two leaders.

In an effort to renew trade bonds, Italian companies are meanwhile set to make investments into the UK worth almost £500 million.