The British government is expected to offer to supply drones and intelligence-gathering equipment and to set up a military headquarters to combat people-smugglers operating in Libya, official sources say.

The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, and the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, had been expected to tell their EU counterparts at a meeting in Brussels on Monday that Britain is prepared to take the lead in operations in the Mediterranean. But on Monday afternoon defence sources said that instead, the UK would offer what they called “planning specialist staff”.

A military package is shaping up to be the government’s response to the growing migrant boat crisis and pressure from its European partners to accept more refugees. A robust military contribution could head off calls for the UK to take on more refugees and migrants.

Defence sources said a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, Lyme Bay, which can carry 200 marines and three Merlin helicopters, and a new class of armoured offshore assault boats, could provide a significant element to a planned EU naval force in the Mediterranean.

However, the sources said such a force would need a UN security council resolution and that the government would need much more information about the proposed EU force and its rules of engagement before deploying ships and commandos.

EU ministers are set to approve plans for the force on Monday. The move to fight people-smugglers in the Mediterranean comes after a series of shipwrecks killed hundreds of migrants.

The operation, starting in June, will involve the deployment of warships and surveillance aircraft off the coast of Libya, which is at the centre of the humanitarian disaster.

The EU plan also includes the possible destruction of smugglers’ boats before they reach European shores.

Federica Mogherini, the EU diplomatic chief, said approval from the European foreign and defence ministers at a “very intense” meeting in Brussels on Monday would help push the UN security council into backing action.

“Today the main point will be taking the decision to establish the EU operation at sea to dismantle the criminal networks that are smuggling people in the Mediterranean,” Mogherini told reporters. “I think that after we take the decision today it is more likely for the security council to take a resolution.”

However, she has insisted there is no question of EU “boots on the ground” in Libya, where political chaos and the rising threat of Islamic State militants make it the main launching point for people risking their lives to cross the sea.



More than 5,000 migrants, many escaping civil war in Syria, have died over the past 18 months while trying to cross from North Africa, often on flimsy rubber dinghies or crowded fishing boats.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have already promised to deploy warships for the mission, a rare joint military venture for the 28-nation European bloc that prefers political and financial gambits.

The German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, said that while rescue operations at sea would remain the EU’s first priority, it had to tackle the roots of the problem. “Even if sea rescue operations will stay our top priority, we have to address at the same time the causes, which bring people to venture on this high-risk escape over the sea,” she said.

However, rights groups have criticised the military plan, saying it would not solve the problem of complex smuggling networks and of a huge number of people fleeing war and poverty. Andrew Stroehlein of Human Rights Watch said it was “utter madness”.

The headquarters of the mission, called EU Navfor Med, is to be in Rome and will be led by Italian rear admiral Enrico Credendino, a European diplomat told AFP.

Brussels wants to take the operation step-by-step, starting by collecting intelligence on the traffickers by using radar, satellite pictures and reconnaissance flights and raiding unflagged boats.

If the EU wants ships from its member states to enter Libyan waters or capture a boat flying a foreign flag, it needs the green light from the UN under international law.

The naval operation is part of a wider EU blueprint launched last week, which envisaged sharing the migrant burden more evenly among member states and increased cooperation with source countries to help stem the tide of people seeking a better life in Europe. Pressure has grown on governments to act after an overcrowded migrant boat sank in the Mediterranean last month, leaving more than 750 dead in a case that sparked international outrage.

But parts of the plan – particularly quotas for distributing asylum seeker arrivals around the EU – are causing deep divisions. Britain says it will not take part in the quota system and has called for economic migrants to be pushed back to where they came from.

It received unexpected support from the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, who rejected the quota plan at the weekend, while Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia have also spoken out against it.