Prime minister David Cameron has said the Government will be going around local authorities to see what more they could do to take in refugees.

He used the weekly Prime Minister's Questions session to announce the Government was in discussion with the charity Save the Children about what more Britain can do to help unaccompanied child refugees from Syria.

He told MPs that he wanted to proceed with 'as much support across the House' as possible on the issue of children who had reached Europe after fleeing the Syrian conflict.

But he insisted that the Government was determined that any measures it took would not encourage more people to try to make the dangerous journey to Europe.

Amid threats of a damaging Tory backbench rebellion, Mr Cameron said that 'because of the steps we are taking' it would no longer be necessary to try to overturn an amendment in the House of Lords requiring the UK to re-settle a 'specified' number of children.

'I do want us to proceed with as much support across the House as we can,' he told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.

'I am also talking to Save the Children to see what we can do more, particularly about children who came here before the EU-Turkey deal was signed.

'What I don't want us to do is to take steps that will encourage people to make this dangerous journey because otherwise our actions, however well-meaning they will be, could result in more people dying than more people getting a good life.'

He added: 'We are going to go around the local authorities to see what more we can do, but let's stick the principle that we should not be taking new arrivals to Europe.'