Home Secretary Theresa May, who is refusing a request by the EU for Britain to take an extra 60,000 asylum seekers

Tory ministers were last night refusing demands for Britain to take a quota of 60,000 asylum seekers in their first post-election battle with the EU.

The European Commission wants member states to take a share of the migrants who are pouring into Europe after making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

The idea is backed by Germany, the key Brussels power broker which received 200,000 asylum applications last year.

Italy, Malta, Austria and Greece, where large numbers of migrants arrive, also argue that Britain is not taking its fair share.

But ministers, led by Home Secretary Theresa May, are refusing to agree to the request, which will be formally made by Brussels tomorrow.

Mrs May argues that many of the new arrivals are economic migrants rather than refugees fleeing wars in Libya and Syria.

In many cases, they have travelled across Africa to start the journey from Libya – where order has broken down following the toppling of dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

The EU cannot force Britain to take a quota – which would see the number of people seeking asylum here each year double from 30,000 – as the UK has an opt-out on edicts relating to asylum and immigration.

However, it is likely to increase tensions at a time when Britain wants the EU to agree to renegotiate the wider terms of our membership ahead of an in-out referendum in 2017.

France yesterday backed the quota proposals, with interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve saying: ‘It’s reasonable that there should be a redistribution of the numbers in the EU.’

Earlier this month, Mrs May disputed the idea that all the Mediterranean migrants were asylum seekers fleeing conflict zones, saying: ‘The issue is perceived as being people who are refugees from Syria.

‘Those coming across the Med, they are coming from countries such as Senegal, Eritrea, Sudan. Many will have paid organised crime groups to get them through.

If we are really going to stop the people putting their lives in danger by trying to cross the Med, we need to stop them starting their journey in the first place.’

The EU has assured the UN Security Council that ‘no refugee or migrant intercepted at sea will be sent back against their will’.

Quotas for each country would be set out based on economic and social factors but Britain could be forced to accept more than double the current number of migrants - rising to 60,000. Pictured: Migrants off Libya

Plans to force EU member states to accept a certain quota of migrants are to be opposed by Britain. The proposals have been drawn up in response to trafficking from Libya, which has seen hundreds drown off Italy

Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini addressed the council as the EU prepares to discuss an operation to identify and capture boats before they are used by traffickers.

Royal Navy flagship HMS Bulwark – sent to the Mediterranean by David Cameron last month – is likely to be involved.

More than 1,800 people are said to have died making the journey across the Med this year alone – a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.