May rejects EU system for migrants rescued from the Med

THERESA MAY today clashed with EU leaders over plans to give new lives to migrants rescued from the Mediterranean while attempting to reach to Europe.

The Home Secretary said Britain would not take part as it would encourage thousands more to attempt the dangerous crossing from Africa to Italy, which has seen hundreds of men, women and children drown.

And she rejected arguments that the migrants were mainly refugees from Syria who had a right to resettle.

“The real way to deal with that flow of people — a lot of which is to do with economic migrants, people from countries like Eritrea and Nigeria — is actually to stop that flow of people in the first place,” she said.

“Very often what lies behind this are criminals who are taking people’s money, travelling them through Africa, putting them into boats that they know may very well sink… We need to deal with those criminals, we need to ensure that people aren’t putting their lives at risk in the first place.”

Mrs May rejected an assurance by the EU’s High Representative Federica Mogherini that no migrants intercepted at sea “will be sent back against their will”.