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.