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UK May Accept 'Several Thousand' More Refugees

The Government is considering a plan to allow several thousand more refugees into Britain, Sky News can reveal, after David Cameron said he was "deeply moved" by footage of a drowned Syrian boy.

The Prime Minister was reacting earlier to questions as pressure mounted on Britain to take greater action to resolve the migration crisis hitting Europe.

Mr Cameron said: "Anyone who saw those pictures overnight could not help but be moved and, as a father, I felt deeply moved by the sight of that young boy on a beach in Turkey.

"Britain is a moral nation and we will fulfil our moral responsibilities."

Now Sky sources have said the Government is looking at relaxing its previous opposition to letting more refugees come to the UK.

A senior No 10 source told Sky News: "The PM said today in his interview that we'd taken thousands already and will take thousands more.

"The PM said yesterday and repeated today that we're reviewing the position, which on background you can take as a steer that we're looking at what more can be done."

The pictures showed the body of a three-year-old, identified by Turkish media as Aylan Kurdi, washed up on the beach at a Turkish tourist resort.

His family are among millions of Syrians who have fled their homeland amid bitter fighting, many of whom have been attempting the perilous journey to safety in Europe.

Thousands of those have reached Hungary, but have been unable to continue their journey because authorities there have been determined to impose international rules on migration.

Pressure has been building on Mr Cameron to do more to help with Europe's migration crisis as nearly 200,000 people signed an online petition urging the Government to act.

Senior UN and European officials spoke out and MPs called for action as shocking scenes hundreds of miles apart illustrated the desperate plight facing hundreds of thousands of people trying fleeing from the war-torn nation.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was furious that Scotland was unable to take in migrants because of the UK government.

She accused the British Prime Minister of having a "walk on by" attitude.

Referring to the death of Aylan, she told MSPs: "He and thousands like him whose lives are at risk is not somebody else's responsibility, they are the responsibility of us all.

"So, I am angry, very angry, at the walk on by on the other side approach of the UK Government."

Peter Sutherland, the UN special representative on international migration said while some European countries were "massively bearing the burden," the UK was among those that "can do more."

"This is a humanitarian crisis that Europe has not experienced in our time, of a dimension which demands a common response," he said.

Conservative MPs including David Burrowes, Nadhim Zahawi, Ruth Davidson and Nicola Blackwood also joined the chorus of those calling for action, speaking out after Labour leadership frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn said Britain had been "shamed by our European neighbours".

Yvette Cooper - who has said the UK could take in 10,000 refugees a month - has written to Mr Cameron, telling him: "Do not be the British Prime Minister who turns his back on the refugee crisis of our generation or who failed to do the right thing in the face of crisis and desperation."

Andy Burnham told Sky News Britain should take take refugees directly from camps bordering Syria.

There was also criticism from Europe, where Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks, said he was "seriously concerned" by Mr Cameron's position.

Britain has committed to take in 500 Syrian refugees.

By comparison, Germany has officially agreed to take in 30,000 migrants but is expecting to receive a record 800,000 asylum seekers this year alone.

An online petition asking the Government to "accept more asylum seekers and increase support for refugee migrants in the UK" has now gathered more than 190,000 signatures - almost double the number required to force a vote on the issue - racking up supporters at a rate of 500 per minute.

In Budapest, Sky's Mark Stone spoke to the family of Sadan, the four-day-old baby born outside the city's Keleti station, where around 2,000 exhausted and hungry refugees have been prevented from boarding trains to Germany.

Her father said: "I'm happy to become a father and have a new child but I'm afraid for my baby because conditions are so bad.

"It's so cold and I wish to reach Germany or Britain in a safe way, not by a crowded train."

He said his family's home town in Syria was divided into two fronts, with the Syrian Army advancing on one side and Islamic State fighters on the other.

It is believed that Aylan died along with his five-year-old brother Galip and mother Rihan as they travelled in an inflatable boat to the Greek island of Kos. His father, Abdullah, survived.

Aylan and his family had travelled from the Syrian town of Kobani, where Islamic State has been involved in heavy fighting in recent months.

They had reportedly been seeking asylum in Canada, but set out for Europe after their application was turned down.

According to one aid agency, about 2,000 people attempt to make the short but dangerous crossing to Greece’s eastern islands in unsafe vessels every day.