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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Migrant crisis: UK must do even more to help refugees - George Osborne | Migrant crisis: UK must do even more to help refugees - George Osborne |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Britain "needs to do even more" to help refugees from Syria, Chancellor George Osborne has said, as he called for a "fundamental rethink" of how the UK uses its international aid budget. | |
| Mr Osborne told the BBC money from the £12bn budget could be diverted to councils taking in refugees. | |
| Britain would approach the "crisis on our doorstep" with "head as well as heart", he added. | |
| The PM has said the UK will take in "thousands" more refugees from Syria. | The PM has said the UK will take in "thousands" more refugees from Syria. |
| European countries are dealing with a surge of people fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, particularly from Syria and Afghanistan, and abuses in Eritrea. | |
| Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Osborne confirmed that David Cameron would be making a Commons statement on the refugee crisis on Monday. | Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Osborne confirmed that David Cameron would be making a Commons statement on the refugee crisis on Monday. |
| He also said the government needed to make the argument for military intervention against Islamic State militants in Syria. | |
| 'Desperate' people | |
| Calls for the UK to take in more refugees have intensified after the publication of a picture of the body of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up on a Turkish beach. | |
| Ms Osborne would not confirm how many people the UK would take in, but said it would look at bringing refugees directly from Syria, rather than taking in those who had already travelled to the EU. | |
| Under existing schemes, the government offers financial support for Syrians resettled in the UK for 12 months. | |
| Mr Osborne said: "While helping people in desperate need, we should not encourage more families to make that desperately dangerous journey across the Mediterranean and so we think we should go directly to these refugee camps and help people and bring people from those camps to the United Kingdom. | Mr Osborne said: "While helping people in desperate need, we should not encourage more families to make that desperately dangerous journey across the Mediterranean and so we think we should go directly to these refugee camps and help people and bring people from those camps to the United Kingdom. |
| "We need to make an assessment of what our public services and infrastructure can support. | "We need to make an assessment of what our public services and infrastructure can support. |
| "But let me say this, the foreign aid budget we have - and we've increased this foreign aid budget - can provide the support in the first year for these refugees, can help local councils with things like housing costs." | "But let me say this, the foreign aid budget we have - and we've increased this foreign aid budget - can provide the support in the first year for these refugees, can help local councils with things like housing costs." |
| On the possibility of UK military intervention in Syria, Mr Osborne said the government was unlikely to put forward another Commons vote unless it knew it was likely to win parliamentary support. | |
| In August 2013 MPs rejected UK military action in Syria by 285-272. | |
| Mr Osborne said there was a "strong case" to be fighting the Islamic State group in Syria as well as in Iraq. |