Refugee crisis: Theresa May to demand action at UN summit

At her first United Nations General Assembly, the Prime minister will call for ‘a more co-ordinated’ approach to dealing with the crisis

Theresa May will be accompanied by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel to her first UN general assembly (Getty)

Theresa May will take part in a summit on refugees and migration at the United Nations headquarters on Monday.

US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will also appear, and both want to ensure meaningful progress is made on the issue as their terms of office near completion.

The talks will focus on a ‟more co-ordinated approach to managing migration, to better protecting refugees and being able to help them and also deal with some of the challenges that countries face from the scale of migration we have seen”, UK officials said.

Ms May will be accompanied at the meeting by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Development Secretary Priti Patel. She will also meet US business leaders and hold talks with counterparts from around the world, as she hopes to show the UK remains an important global player after the vote to leave the European Union.

Read more

The Prime Minister will also push for international action to tackle modern-day slavery, drawing on her experience as home secretary.

Internal UN politics will provide a significant backdrop to the meeting, as the UN will replace Ban Ki-moon when his second five-year term comes to an end later this year. Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres is favourite to replace him, but many countries want to see a woman take the job for the first time. The former prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, is considered the most likely.

UK officials have only said that they want to see the role ‟appointed on merit” to a “strong and effective leader”.