Refugee crisis: Leadership call by Jones to Cameron

The UK government should find some "backbone" and accept more refugees to solve an "unfolding humanitarian tragedy", the first minister has said.

Carwyn Jones said Wales "stands ready to play its full part", and called on UK ministers to show some leadership.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood had accused the Welsh government of not being vocal enough over the crisis.

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said the country should "deal with this as a United Kingdom".

'Massive scale'

Commenting on the migrant crisis and accusations of his own government's lack of action, Mr Jones said: "Wales stands ready to play its full part in responding to this unfolding humanitarian tragedy, just have we always have done in the past.

"However, these are non-devolved issues and we desperately need to see some leadership from the UK government on the matter.

Syrian refugees have been allowed into the UK under a Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme

"This is not part of some diplomatic chess match - we are talking about human suffering on a massive scale.

"Sadly this Tory Government has once again abandoned its international responsibilities.

"They urgently need to rediscover some backbone and their moral compass - backing Labour's call to accept 10,000 refugees would be a good start and I offer my full support to this approach."

Mr Jones accepted that this meant Wales would accept 500-600 refugees.

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said Britain had a "proud tradition of opening our doors and welcoming people from around the world" and should "deal with this as a United Kingdom".

He called for a Europe-wide solution to the wider migrant crisis.

"Nobody should think for one moment that just by having an open-door policy to this wave of immigration that's coming into Europe represents any kind of solution whatsoever," he told BBC Wales.

"A great number of people who are at Calais trying to get into the UK at the moment are not from Syria. They're economic migrants who want a better life."

'Fair share'

Earlier, Ms Wood told BBC Radio 4 that the Welsh government had not "stepped up to the mark" over the migrant crisis.

"We should be able to find at least a joint declaration by all parties in Wales, which would be a welcome first step in order to put this case for taking our fair share," she said.

But Monmouth Conservative MP Mr Davies told BBC Radio Cymru that the NHS would fall apart if Britain and other European countries gave a home to everyone fleeing such countries.

He said: "We have to say, 'look we are very sorry, but if you are fleeing from a war zone there are camps set up in Turkey and Jordan where your safety can be ensured'.

"If everyone came [to the UK] we will see the end of the NHS and the welfare state, because we cannot cope with these large numbers."

Meanwhile the Newport West Labour MP Paul Flynn has called for a fairer distribution of refugees across the UK.

He said cities such as Newport were shouldering the burden while there were no asylum seekers in the prime minister's constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire.

Analysis by Nick Servini, BBC Wales political editor

Tucked away on the north-western corner of Europe, Wales is a long way from the front line of the migrant crisis, but the debate here is the same as every other country in the EU.

And while there is deep concern of the impact on public services and jobs of accepting too many refugees, there's also an awareness from some that Wales has a moral responsibility to help out.

This will become a numbers game. Many will agree that more should be done to help out but the test is how many families each community should be prepared to accept.

The Welsh Refugee Council says there were 2,600 asylum seekers in Wales in May, a fraction of the numbers experienced in other countries.

It believes there's scope for more, and it now appears that Labour and Plaid Cymru believe so as well.