Britain Will Take 20,000 Refugees - Cameron

David Cameron has confirmed that 20,000 refugees will be resettled in the UK from camps bordering Syria by 2020.

The Prime Minister has come under significant pressure over the migration crisis in recent days but claimed no other European country had "come close" to matching the UK's response considering the foreign aid Britain had distributed in the region.

"This is clearly the biggest challenge facing countries in Europe today," Mr Cameron told the Commons.

"We have already provided sanctuary to more than 5,000 Syrian refugees in Britain… but given the scale of the crisis and suffering of the Syrian people it is right we do much more.

"In doing so, we will continue to show the world that this country is a country of extraordinary compassion, always standing up for our values and helping those in need."

Refugees taken in will be given five-year humanitarian protection visas, Mr Cameron said.

The UK will continue to use the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees process to identify those refugees most in need.

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman asked the Prime Minister to state the number of refugees who would be welcomed this year given the "immediate" nature of the crisis - but Mr Cameron said he could not do so before holding discussions with local councils.

Sky News has asked 80 councils whether they would house Syrians. Of the 42 to reply so far, 34 said they would .

Maurice Wren, Refugee Council chief executive, said: "The programme needs to be frontloaded as the crisis is now and the expansion must happen as a matter of urgency as people are living in desperate situations in the region and cannot wait until 2020 to reach safety."

MPs will have an emergency debate on the refugee crisis on Tuesday after a request by Labour leadership candidate Yvette Cooper was granted.

The Prime Minister's announcement that the UK would take 20,000 refugees was described as a "very slim response" by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

It came as the European Union proposed to introduce national quotas to relocate more than 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy, Greece and Hungary.

The three nations have seen an influx of refugees arrive by land and sea.

Germany has confirmed it will take 40,000 of this total, while France said it planned to accommodate 30,000 people.

The UK, along with Ireland and Denmark, is exempt from the quota scheme, which aims to proportionately distribute refugees across the 28-nation bloc.

Some EU nations are concerned they will not be able to cope with the number of refugees they are allocated.

Poland has said it would be able to accommodate 2,000 refugees to ease the strain on other countries. However, under the quota scheme, it would have to take 12,000 people.

Other nations, such as Slovakia, have said they do not want to take in Muslims.

Hungary has criticised the European Union for considering a quota system at all, with its prime minister Viktor Orban saying it made no sense unless EU countries were able to protect their own borders.

European leaders are due to meet on 14 September to discuss the migration crisis.

More than 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year.

Some 2,000 people have died at sea since the start of 2015.

Britain is taking refugees from camps in the region only, giving vulnerable people what Mr Cameron called a "direct and safe" route to the UK, rather than encouraging them to make the "hazardous" journey across the Mediterranean by boat.

Charities across the UK have seen a surge of British families offering their spare rooms to help refugees fleeing Syria.

Birmingham Community Hosting Network has told Sky News about an "unprecedented" spike of calls with households wanting to help.

Organiser Lizzy Bell, 27, who has hosted many asylum seekers herself, told Sky News: "Since last Wednesday we have had over 30 families calling offering their spare rooms - normally we get perhaps one call every six months or so."