DAVID CAMERON’S massive climbdown that Britain would accept “thousands” more refugees received a cautious welcome in some quarters yesterday while others claimed it did not go far enough.

Mr Cameron was forced into a U-turn over the refugee crisis under growing public pressure and claimed that Britain would take “thousands more” refugees from camps on the borders of war-torn Syria.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency suggested Britain would take 4,000 more refugees from Syria — although Downing Street refused to confirm or deny the figure.

Amnesty International UK refugee expert Steve Symonds said that if the offer was genuine it would represent a “significant step forward.” However he cautioned that previous pledges had turned out to be “woefully inadequate commitments.

“It remains to be seen whether the government will go far enough this time or honour the commitments it makes to tackle the ongoing refugee crisis,” he said.

“Taking in our fair share of refugees is essential. But we urgently need a collective, co-ordinated response from Europe as a whole.”

Earlier this week the Prime Minister had dismissed the suggestion that the country should open its doors to greater numbers of refugees, claiming that it would not “solve the problem.”

But a groundswell of public outrage at the government’s callous response to the mounting crisis appears to have forced it into retreat.

The PM said yesterday that Britain had a “moral responsibility” to help refugees.

However he gave no indication whether the government would be willing to resettle any of the hundreds of thousands who have made perilous Mediterranean crossings by boat to reach Europe over the past few months.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said Mr Cameron had been “forced kicking and screaming by public outrage” into a U-turn on his refusal to accept more refugees.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said that Britain had a humanitarian responsibility “as a state whose unilateral, and sometimes illegal, actions” have helped to create the crisis.