![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/139\/590x\/secondary\/Sir-Keir-Starmer-4960823.jpg?r=1694778836504\")
<\/p>\nEuropean diplomats have ridiculed Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for a new migrant returns deal with Brussels.<\/p>\n
The Labour leader this week unveiled proposals on the small boats crisis including seeking an agreement with the EU.<\/p>\n
But EU sources said there was “absolutely no question of helping the UK” until the bloc has its “own house in order”.<\/p>\n
One EU diplomat told The Times: \u201cThe EU\u2019s asylum system is broken, internal negotiations have now dragged on for more than seven years without an end in sight.<\/p>\n
“There is absolutely no question of helping the UK until we have put our own house in order.<\/p>\n
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“Starmer is deluded if he thinks that European governments, who are under much more pressure on asylum and migration than Britain, are going to come to his rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as the 27-nation club is dealing with its own internal rows over migration and returns reforms.<\/p>\n
A proposal by the European Commission for a scheme that would require all members to accept a quote of asylum seekers entering the bloc has stalled due to opposition from central and eastern European nations.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir’s small boats plan, which also involves treating people smugglers like terrorists, has sparked a political battle with the Conservatives.<\/p>\n
The Tories have seized on the suggestion that he may accept a migrant quota from Brussels as part of a returns deal for people crossing the Channel.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed the proposals could result in 100,000 EU migrants coming to the UK every year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the Labour leader would let the UK become a “dumping ground” for Europe’s migrants.<\/p>\n
And writing for the Express, she warned Labour’s \u201cdirty deal\u201d will surrender Britain\u2019s Brexit freedoms.<\/p>\n
But Sir Keir – who has refused to be drawn on the number of asylum seekers he would be happy to take in from the EU – said the response was “typical from a Government that’s completely lost control of the situation”.<\/p>\n
He said: “It’s embarrassing that the Government is pumping out this nonsense. I can only assume it’s because they’ve got nothing sensible to say on the issue.”<\/p>\n
The Labour leader visited The Hague, in the Netherlands, yesterday for talks with the EU’s Europol law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n
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