Britain set to resist demands for EU-wide refugee quotas

Theresa May will attend emergency summit in Brussels today. Credit: Reuters

Britain is set to resist demands for EU-wide migrant quotas as ministers meet for an emergency summit to discuss the crisis in Brussels today.

Home Secretary Theresa May will join her European counterparts in the latest effort to agree a co-ordinated response to the upsurge in arrivals on Europe's borders.

Germany has temporarily suspended the border-free Schengen Agreementas it struggles to cope with large numbers fleeing the war in Syria. More than 14,000 have arrived at Munich station since the country allowed free access to the thousands gathered in Hungary.

Both Angela Merkel and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have called for the fair distribution of the 160,000 refugees around the continent from Italy, Greece and Hungary.

Prime Minister David Cameron has made clear that Britain will not participate in the plans, instead announcing that the UK will take in 20,000 Syrians from camps in the region. He argues that focusing on migrants who have already reached Europe would merely encourage more to come.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "By shutting the border with Austria, it is clear that the German government have realised the scale of their error. Schengen surely can't survive now."