BRITAIN is to commit another £100 million to supporting the refugee camps bordering Syria.

David Cameron announced the extra money at an EU summit riven by division. The UK has now committed more than £1 billion to help sustain the camps that hold millions of displaced people from war-torn Syria. Some £40m of the additional £100m will be used to support the underfunded World Food Programme.

"We must make sure that people in refugee camps are properly fed and looked after, not least to help them but also to stop people wanting to make or thinking of making this very, very difficult and very dangerous journey to Europe," explained the Prime Minister.

Tensions between EU leaders gathered in Brussels appeared to be growing after the vote by EU Interior Ministers to establish a plan to relocate among member states the 120,000 refugees, currently in Greece, Italy and Hungary.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Europe "has the strength to find an answer", the proposal provoked a furious row with four former Eastern bloc states - Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic - voting against it; Finland abstained.

Britain - which is not required to participate because it is not part of the "borderless" Schengen area - has exercised its right to opt out.

Donald Tusk, the European Council President, who convened the summit, said it was "critical" member states set aside their differences and agreed to a concrete plan "in place of the arguments and the chaos we have witnessed".

Draft proposals are believed to include donating at least £700m to UN aid agencies to help Syrian refugees, sending more staff to shore up Europe's external borders and giving more support to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and other countries neighbouring Syria.

Mr Tusk warned the numbers of refugees trying to reach Europe from the Middle East could reach millions as the turmoil in the region continued. It is estimated some 5000 people are arriving on European shores each day.

However, Robert Fico, Slovakia's premier, made clear his country was not prepared to implement the relocation plan and warned it could mount a legal challenge through the European Court of Justice.

"We won't implement this decision because we think it can't work," he declared, dismissing the plan as “nonsense".

Meantime in Bournemouth, Tim Farron used his first conference speech as Liberal Democrat leader to chastise Mr Cameron and make an impassioned plea for the UK to sign up to the EU quota plan.

Visibly angry during his keynote address to delegates, Mr Farron denounced the PM’s response as "pitiful and embarrassing".

He accused him of “turning his back on the needy and…on our neighbours” and received a standing ovation when the Lib Dem leader declared: “I want the world to know, he does not speak for me, he does not speak for us, he does not speak for Britain.”