Albanian PM promises to take back every criminal if Nigel Farage is right about prison population

The feud started when Farage accused Rama of hypocrisy over comments he made about Britain having become a "dark place" after Brexit, claiming that one in 50 Albanians in Britain were in prison.

Farage called on Rama to "show some goodwill and take them all back tomorrow", which prompted Rama to take to social media to refute Farage's claims.

Rama wrote on social media: "Let’s both bring our numbers to the table. If your 'one in 50' claim holds water, I will personally commit to taking them all back.

"That’s not a competing headline, it’s a public pledge. But if your scary stat turns out to be just tabloid fuel, then no apology needed. No drama.

"Instead, you’ll come to Albania, as my guest of honor. You’ll get real sun, real hospitality, and even more real facts, about Albania and its fabulous people.

"All I ask in return is the simplest public pledge from you, made while enjoying our country: next time someone badmouths Albanians, you’ll be the first to tell them, in your histrionic way, not to do it again."

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Responding, Farage told the Telegraph he accepted the offer made by Rama, saying: "We will hold [him] to his pledge!"

The figures cited by Farage were based on data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It suggested there were 10,435 foreign nationals in jails in England and Wales compared to 76,866 British nationals. Nations with fewer than 20 people in UK jails were discounted from the study because of the low sample size.

The Albanian imprisonment rate was 232.33 per 10,000 people, roughly evening out to one in 50. This was calculated based on the census data showing 68,672 foreign-born Albanians lived in the UK.

Excluding the 15,860 without a UK passport gives a total of around 52,000. With 1,227 in jail, it equates to two per cent of Albanians.

Rama had said Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to send failed asylum seekers abroad to hubs in Europe demonstrated that Britain after Brexit is in "a very dark place".

Rama said Britain was "looking for places to dump migrants" a concept he claimed would have been "unthinkable" a decade ago.