Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to support (1) the EU, and (2) countries on the Mediterranean coast, with refugees in that region; and what plans they have, if any, to contribute to the EU’s proposed Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism.

The EU’s Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism is a temporary measure, open to the EU and Associated States, to which the UK is not a party.

We remain open to discussing greater UK-EU cooperation on migration issues. Meanwhile, the UK supports asylum-seekers through other means: between 2016 and September 2022, we resettled more than 26,000 individuals via refugee resettlement schemes – the third highest number in the world after the United States and Canada, and more than any other European country. Our focus will remain on helping people directly from regions of conflict and instability.