Warning over EU migrant crisis deal

An EU deal to relocate 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece could be “counter-productive” by encouraging more people to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in smugglers’ boats, David Cameron has warned.

The deal was agreed in the early hours of yesterday morning after a fractious meeting during which Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi accused some counterparts of lacking “solidarity” because of their unwillingness to accept mandatory quotas of migrants.

The EU also agreed to resettle 20,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Mr Cameron made clear that Britain will not accept any migrants under the relocation scheme, but insisted the UK was “playing a leading role” both in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and in separate UN schemes to resettle vulnerable refugees from camps in and around conflict-hit states in Africa and the Middle East.

It emerged that the expansion of the UK’s contribution to these schemes will see more than 1,000 people resettled in the country annually — expected to include around 800 Syrians over a three-year period.

Mr Cameron said Europe’s focus should not be on dispersing the migrants who cross the Mediterranean illegally, but discouraging them from making the journey in the first place.

He said the Government’s Immigration Bill would help this drive, by making it more difficult for illegal immigrants to make a life for themselves in the UK.

And he threw down a challenge to Labour to back the legislation in parliament.

“I would like to see some real change from Labour,” said the PM.

“It’s not enough just to control these things at the border.

“We’ve got to make sure that if illegal immigrants get to Britain, it is harder to get a job, it is harder to rent a house, it’s harder to get a bank account or a driving licence or the rest of it.

“That’s what’s in our Immigration Bill. If Labour cares about controlling immigration and dealing with immigration, they need to get to work on that,” he said.

Speaking at the end of a two-day European Council summit in Brussels which was dominated by migration and the Greek debt crisis, Mr Cameron said he did not think relocation was “the right idea”.

Britain was able to avoid involvement because of a “robust” opt-out on EU home affairs issues.

“We do think these relocation schemes for migrants who have already arrived could prove counter-productive, and we’ve been very consistent about that,” said the prime minister.

“Others have decided to go ahead, but we are under no obligation to join them precisely because of our opt-out on justice and home affairs matters.