UK will have to take thousands of migrants in any EU asylum deal, Sunak and Starmer warned

Prime Minister has seized on Labour 's plan to tackle the Channel crisis, which includes an EU returns deal.

But senior Tories and experts questioned the criticism as Mr Sunak is also seeking to strike a returns deal with Brussels .

EU countries are negotiating on a bloc-wide deal that would see members “burden-share” by taking in quotas of asylum seekers.

Downing Street has insisted the Prime Minister would “never be open” to burden sharing or quotas.

But this has been described as unrealistic by senior Tories , who said it was “hard to imagine” Brussels accepting a deal that did not see the UK taking in its fair share.