EU migrant crisis: This is how the chancellor plans to pay for thousands of incoming refugees
George Osborne plans to pay for thousands of incoming refugees by dipping into the UK's £12bn international aid budget.
In an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, the chancellor said he would use some of this money to help local councils house the refugees:
The foreign aid budget can provide the support in the first year for these refugees, could help the local councils with things like housing costs. We will deploy the foreign aid budget to help with the costs of these refugees.
He also said the UK would “approach this crisis with a head as well as a heart”, and that it would focus on bringing Syrian orphans into the country.
"In the short term we are going to take more refugees, but not in a way that encourages them on to these dangerous boats. In the longer term we need a fundamental rethink of our aid policy," he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to accept at least 10,000 more refugees from camps on the Syrian border, but has not confirmed the exact number. Tomorrow, he will brief MPs on more definite plans.