EU member states are demanding the right to introduce Rwanda-style deportation schemes along similar lines to the controversial legislation which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak finally managed to push through Parliament last month.
The Czech Republic and Italy are spearheading calls on Brussels by 19 members of the EU27 to allow them to transfer migration procedures outside the bloc.
UK insiders have suggested the move is a clear indication that Mr Sunak’s strategy is “making sense to people across the world”.
In an indication that the Rwanda project is having an impact, Ireland has claimed migrants are crossing the border from the North into the Republic, apparently concerned at the prospect of being flown to the east African country.
Denmark is another of the signatories to the letter, sent to the European Commission, which is backing the idea of sending migrants picked up as sea to countries outside the EU’s territory.
One UK Government insider told MailOnline: “Increasingly as governments around the world face up to the global challenge of mass migration they are looking at similar solutions to the one this Government has introduced.
“The fundamentals of our plan are making sense to people across the world but not to the Labour Party here, who think scrapping Rwanda and only rebranding a unit already set up by the PM and actively tackling criminal people smuggling gangs is enough.”
Separately, the European Council today formally adopted the EU’s pact on migration and asylum, consisting of 10 legislative acts which the European Commission says reform the entire European framework for asylum and migration management.
The new rules will permit to gather more accurate and complete data, including biometrics on various categories of migrants, including applicants for international protection and people arriving irregularly in the EU.
Nicole de Moor, Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, said: “The asylum and migration pact will ensure a fairer and stronger migration system that makes a concrete difference on the ground.
“These new rules will make the European asylum system more effective and increase solidarity between member states.
“The European Union will also continue its close cooperation with third countries to tackle the root causes of irregular migration.
“Only jointly can we find responses to the global migration challenge.”