Scotland “recognises its obligations to refugees,” nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon said in Brussels yesterday, highlighting the contrast between her devolved administration and the British government on an EU proposal of quotas for resettling migrants.

The European Commission has suggested that 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean asylum seekers be shared among EU member states based on each nation’s population, economy, unemployment and number of asylum applications received in the past five years.

EU ministers will discuss the plan on June 15 and 16, but Britain has said it will not join the talks.

“The Scottish government has urged the UK to participate fully in proposed EU action – such as on relocation and resettlement,” Scottish First Minister Sturgeon said, adding “Scotland is willing to take our fair share of refugees”.

About 1,800 people have died or gone missing this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on packed boats, while more than 40,000 have reached Italy which, like other southern European countries, wants help to relieve the influx. Germany, Sweden, Austria and others are favoured destinations for migrants who, once ashore, travel across the EU’s internal open borders to claim asylum. These states have asked for migrants to be spread more evenly across the bloc.

Britain’s Conservative Party was re-elected last month with a mandate to cut net immigration – about 300,000 last year – and renegotiate the terms of UK membership of the European Union before holding a referendum on whether to stay in or quit.

“We must – and will – resist calls for the mandatory relocation or resettlement of migrants across Europe,” Britain’s interior minister, Theresa May, said in an article in The Times newspaper last month.

Offering migrants asylum would “encourage more people to put their lives at risk,” May said, a stance that EU officials have criticised and refugee groups have said is incorrect. Britain, Denmark and Ireland have exemption from EU immigration policy.