A senior French politician has warned that Keir Starmer taking power would mean Labour would “probably” take in a quota of asylum seekers and give money to the EU.
French MEP Fabienne Keller said the financial contribution would be to bloc-wide immigration efforts which would be necessary if Britain wanted to set up a quota scheme.
Ms Keller made the comments as the EU reached an agreement on an overhaul of its laws on handling asylum-seekers and migrants.
The reform will include speedier vetting of irregular arrivals, creating border detention centres, accelerated deportation for rejected asylum applicants and a solidarity mechanism to take pressure off southern countries experiencing big inflows.
Ms Keller, whose Renew Europe group led the negotiations, said it would be “great” if a similar deal could be done with the UK, adding: “Brexit is a trauma for us.”
When asked about a deal under Sir Keir’s possible leadership, she told the BBC it would “probably” include taking a quota of EU arrivals and making a financial contribution.
The Conservative Party have said the alleged plan would mean “tens of thousands more illegal migrants coming to the UK”.
But Labour have denied these plans, saying the party “won’t be joining any EU quota scheme”.
Earlier this year, Sir Keir said he would seek an EU-wide returns agreement for asylum seekers that come to the UK if he becomes prime minister.
Labour said the scheme would not be based on quotas. It comes after the EU agreed to overhaul its asylum seekers system to share out the cost.
The plan is set to include more border detention centres and speedier deportations in the hope of limiting the number of asylum seekers coming in.
Cabinet minister James Cleverly claimed on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that Sir Keir “wants to join this”.
The Home Secretary said: “He would accept forced illegal migrant quotas from the EU. This would mean tens of thousands more illegal migrants coming to the UK. We cannot accept this.”
