Edi Rama schools Reform UK leader over ‘post-Brexit delusion’
Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama has delivered a brutal takedown of Nigel Farage after the Reform UK leader tried to claim that 1 in 50 Albanians in the UK are in prison.
What started as a petty social media jab from Farage quickly turned into a full-blown numbers masterclass – and Rama came out swinging.
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📉 Farage throws wild stats – gets fact-checked by a head of state
The row kicked off when Farage, furious at Rama’s past criticism of Brexit, declared on GB News that 1 in 50 Albanians in the UK are currently behind bars. He doubled down on X, tagging Rama and demanding he “takes all his criminals back.”
“There are 53,000 Albanian citizens in the UK & 1,099 are in our prisons,” Farage wrote. “That’s actually 1 in 48.”
In a scathing post, Rama dismantled Farage’s argument, pointing out that even the Telegraph, who first touted the stat, admitted they likely underestimated the actual number of Albanians living in the UK – meaning Farage’s math doesn’t hold up.
“Numbers are clearly not your forte… YOU LOST,” Rama said. “Yes, numbers can be boring – but they’re also stubborn. And when someone keeps getting them wrong, the real question is: why persist?”
🇦🇱 Albanians are not a stat to twist
Rama then reminded Farage that Albanians in Britain are more than a political talking point.
“They are students, academics, builders, drivers, business owners and partners. If one in a thousand falls short, that does not turn the multitude into scapegoats for your national confusion.”
He also took a swipe at the Reform leader’s Brexit obsession, calling it “post-Brexit delusion” and accusing Farage of using Albanians to score cheap political points.
🤝 UK and Albania already working together
Finally, Rama pointed out that Albania has been cooperating with the UK to reduce illegal migration and crime, saying:
“The real numbers prove it, and that’s called cooperation.”
“But ‘1 in 50 Albanians in UK prisons’? That’s not a fact – that’s called post-Brexit delusion.”
My Catholic grandmother, God rest her soul, used to remind me of the Latin proverb: Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum. That I guess goes something like: To err is human, but to persist in error is diabolical.
