Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make proposals for better sharing of the burdens now falling on Malta, Italy and Greece from the flow of refugees and migrants seeking to enter Europe.

The Government believes that the best way to help EU Member States who are experiencing high levels of illegal migration and asylum claims is through practical co-operation and support to build up their capacity so they can cope with the pressures on their system. We already provide such support and will continue to do so, both through the European Asylum Support Office and bilaterally. We are also working with EU partners to strengthen border security, improve cooperation with source and transit countries and tackle the organised criminal groups involved in people smuggling and human trafficking.

We do not agree that burden sharing in the sense of intra-EU relocation of asylum seekers or refugees as advocated by the countries referred to is the right solution: we believe that such measures would induce even more illegal migrants to risk their lives making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.