PM heads for talks with EU leaders on Brexit and migration crisis
The PM is expected to use the summit as a chance for one-to-one Brexit talks, but migration will be at the top of the agenda.
Friday 3 February 2017 07:11, UK
Prime Minister Theresa May will promise that the UK will remain a "reliable partner" when she meets her EU counterparts in Malta today.
Mrs May will attend part of the EU Presidency Summit in Valletta but will not be present when the rest of the leaders discuss Brexit.
However, she is expected to use the meeting as a chance for one-to-one talks with a series of EU leaders on the subject.
The main topic on the summit agenda will be how to deal with the continuing migration crisis in the Mediterranean.
Mrs May will promise that UK efforts to tackle the migration crisis will continue after the country leaves the European Union
Downing Street said that the Prime Minister "will stress that migration has been one of her political priorities during her time in Government and remains so".
A spokesman added that she would pledge her commitment to the "long-term" challenge both before and after Brexit.
Her priorities include supporting refugees close to the homes they have been forced to leave and deterring economic migrants from trying to cross to Europe by sea.
Mrs May also wants to return those who arrive in Europe with no right to remain.
Yesterday, aimed at stopping migrants setting out for Europe from Libyan shores.
Italy's coast guard has co-ordinated the rescue of hundreds of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean in recent years, and it is believed more than 5,000 people died while attempting to make the perilous crossing in 2016 alone.
The summit comes just days after Mrs May became the first leader to meet President Donald Trump since his election, and she will update European leaders on his views regarding NATO.
She will tell the group that they must increase defence spending so the "burden is more fairly shared".
The UK and US are among just a handful of members whose defence spending reaches 2% of their countries' GDP.
The meeting in Malta will be Mrs May's first chance to meet with European leaders since she set out her Brexit plan and MPs voted on the bill allowing her to trigger Article 50.
On Thursday, the 77-page
It expands on the 12-point plan for leaving the EU set out by the Prime Minister in her big Brexit speech last month.
In it the Government promises to control immigration, leave the single market and seek a "bold free trade agreement" with the EU.
Earlier, the Maltese Prime Minister
Speaking to Sky News, Joseph Muscat suggested the EU had not yet decided whether to open future trade negotiations with Britain alongside exit talks after Article 50 is triggered next month.