British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised a "new era" in cross-border cooperation to tackle human trafficking gangs, reports "Reuters".
He made the request during a trip to Rome for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as part of the country's reboot of relations with the rest of Europe.
Starmer has put renewed ties with European Union leaders high on his diplomatic agenda since winning the election in July, and today's visit to Rome follows visits to Berlin, Paris and Dublin.
Ahead of talks with Meloni, who had a close relationship with Starmer's predecessor Rishi Sunak, the British leader promised "a new era in international law enforcement to dismantle these networks, protect our coasts and bring order to the asylum system".
Starmer reversed the previous government's controversial plan to deport migrants arriving on the island to Rwanda, but did not rule out agreements that would see asylum claims processed offshore, similar to the deal Italy struck with Albania.
"We are interested in the work that Italy and Albania are doing, but it is at an early stage," said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
"What we are more interested in is working around organized immigration crime, smuggling, trafficking gangs, because that leads to immediate results.
French authorities said yesterday that eight people had died trying to cross the English Channel to the UK. This brings the number of victims to 46 since the beginning of the year.
Starmer's Labor government has said it will increase deportation flights and use money saved from the Rwanda scheme to help law enforcement deal with crossings.
In Italy, Starmer visited the National Migration Coordination Center to discuss Italy's approach to the problem after the country reported a 60% drop in migrants arriving by sea.
"There was a drastic reduction here, so I want to understand how that happened," Starmer noted, adding that he wanted to know more about the work "upstream".
In his talks with Meloni, he will also raise defense issues that could affect Britain's involvement in the GCAP fighter jet project with Italy and Japan.