David Cameron is facing growing pressure for the UK to take in more of the many thousands of migrants fleeing to Europe.
It comes after a picture of a dead boy washed up on Bodrum beach in Turkey sparked international outcry over the crisis.
A senior United Nations official called on Britain to take more people fleeing Syria after the shocking pictures emerged on Wednesday.
Peter Sutherland, the UN special representative on international migration, said while some countries were "massively bearing the burden" of the migrant crisis, the UK was among those that "can do more".
A Government spokesman said pictures of the three-year-old child washed up on a Turkish beach were "clearly shocking".
However, after David Cameron said simply taking more migrants was not the answer to the crisis, the spokesman emphasised that the UK was at the forefront of international efforts to help refugees in the region.
Conservative backbencher David Burrowes told the Daily Telegraph the UK "should accept thousands, not hundreds" of people.
Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham called for Parliament to debate whether the UK should take in more refugees when Parliament returns next week while Yvette Cooper suggested the UK could take 10,000 Syrian refugees.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said the Government's refusal to take more than a few hundred refugees was "morally wrong" and "politically foolish" while Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "We must do more".
A number of Tory MPs have spoken out to say Britain should do more for Syrian refugees.
Nadhim Zahawi posted the tragic image of the dead young boy and said those fleeing the war-torn country had been "failed".
The MP for Stratford-on-Avon is an Iraqi immigrant who came to the UK with his family aged nine after fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime.
He wrote on Twitter: "We r nothing without compassion. Pic should make us all ashamed. We have failed in Syria. I am sorry little angel, RIP."
David Burrowes, MP for Enfield Southgate, tweeted: " ... at the very least we should accept more than 1% Syrian refugees because we accept more than 1% responsibility.
