LONDON — Albania’s prime minister accused Britain’s interior minister of “ethnic stereotyping” after she singled out 700 Albanian families whose asylum claims had failed in a speech selling an immigration clampdown.

Amid intense pressure on the incumbent Labour government over migration, Shabana Mahmood used a House of Commons statement Monday to argue that the U.K. is not currently removing family groups of asylum seekers “even when we know that their home country is perfectly safe.”

She cited Albanian families currently living in taxpayer-funded accommodation.

That sparked the ire of Albania’s Edi Rama — who has clashed with Britain’s right-wing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in the past.

Rama posted on X Wednesday: “Official policy should never be driven by ethnic stereotyping. That is the very least humanity expects from the great Great Britain.”

The 700 Albanian families Mahmood had highlighted were, Rama argued “a statistical drop in the ocean of post-Brexit Britain’s challenges.” Singling out Albanian families was “not policy,” but “a troubling and indecent exercise in demagoguery,” he added.

Britain’s last Conservative government signed a returns deal with Albania in 2022, and official data shows the U.K. has deported more than 13,000 people there since.

“Albania is, and intends to remain, one of the U.K.’s most active allies in broader migration control across the Balkans,” Rama argued.

“The U.K. should be seeking ways to deepen cooperation with Albania on all security issues – from defense to border protection — rather than repeatedly scapegoating Albanians and thereby exposing citizens of an allied nation to increased risks, including from extremist groups that thrive on such narratives,” he added.

Asked about Rama’s characterization in an interview aired on Thursday morning Mahmood said: “I obviously disagree.”

She insisted she was talking about people whose asylum claims in the U.K. had failed, rather than Albanians still deemed to be in need of protection. “We are not talking about people who are refugees,” she said.