Corbyn takes a turn as the 'housewives' favourite': Labour leader joins Holly and Phil on the This Morning sofa to demand Calais refugees with British links be let across the Channel 

Any migrants camped in squalid conditions in Calais who have a British connection should be allowed to cross the Channel, Jeremy Corbyn said today.

The Labour leader, interviewed by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield following his trip to 'The Jungle' on Saturday, said the 9,000 people camped in Calais and Dunkirk should be given homes by European countries.

And calling for Britain to take in more people, he said the government has so far agreed to only take in the equivalent of a 'few tube trains' over five years - compared to hundreds of thousands of people accepted by Germany. 

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Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the This Morning sofa today and appealed for people he met in the Calais camp to be allowed into Britain if they have British connections

The Labour leader, pictured during a visit to the camp on Saturday, today said the Home Office should 'let up a bit' on the rules regarding minimum income and relationship which apply to bringing in family members

Mr Corbyn blasted French authorities for 'exacerbating' the crisis on Britain's doorstep.

And he told ITV's This Morning: 'I'm not saying all 9,000 should come. Start with those that have a British connection and a British passport - that's an obvious one.

'And the Home Office can let up a bit and be reasonable in those cases.' 

Mr Corbyn said he had been 'surprised' by how many people at the camp he had met who held British passports.

But he said they were refusing to use their right to enter Britain without bringing their families with them.

The Labour leader said he could only 'speculate' but suggested strict rules on minimum income for spouses and other family members could be to blame.

Mr Corbyn also suggested in some cases Home Office rules consider a relation to distant for a refugee to qualify for entry to Britain.

Mr Corbyn told of a young man he met who was living in a 'disgusting tent' and was unable to come to Britain because his mother, living in Britain, did not earn enough money.

He said the woman regularly travelled to Calais to deliver food but was unable to bring her son back to the UK.

Mr Corbyn rejected the suggestion he was 'naive' about the implications of dramatically increasing the number of refugees it takes in. 

He said: 'Germany has taken several hundred thousand people already, Austria less but taken a lot.

'Britain is taking 20,000 over five years - that is the equivalent of a few tube trains.

'There is a refugee crisis on Europe's borders, there is a refugee crisis in the world. We can't ignore it, we can't wish it away.

'We have to deal with the political causes - the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the war in Syria, the war in Libya.

'But in the mean time we cannot just ignore the fact that are a large number of people in a very serious, deeply depressed state and they need our help.#'

The Labour leader added: 'I think there should be a system agreed with all European countries to take some people so we all take a share.'

A quota system is set to be considered again by European leaders as the EU wrestles with an unprecedented wave of refugees walking or sailing into the continent. 

Mr Corbyn has hit out at the squalid conditions in the camps in Calais and Dunkirk, pictured during the Labour leaders recent visit, and today blasted he the French authorities for 'exacerbating' the situation 

Mr Corbyn said he was 'surprised' by how many people he met at the camp who held British passports but who did not want to travel here without their families 

Home Secretary Theresa May is attending an informal meeting of ministers in Amsterdam discussing the migrant crisis.

The EU is seeking reforms to the Dublin convention which currently requires refugees to claim asylum in the first EU country they enter, rules which are overwhelming states in south and eastern Europe.

The waves of migrants could provoke a suspension of the 'Schengen' area rules of free movement on continental Europe.

 The informal meeting comes days after EU President Donald Tusk warned that Europe's passport-free travel area, known as Schengen, could break apart if the migrant strategy is not sorted out within two months.

'In order to maintain and ensure the free movement within the Schengen zone, it is obvious that we have to better manage our external borders,' said the EU's Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Ministers are seeking to stem the flow through Greece, where authorities are struggling to contain the crossings by boat from Turkey. If that fails, Europe may need to set up border controls somewhere else, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said.

'It's clear that if we can't secure the European borders - that means the Greek-Turkish border - then the Schengen border will move to central Europe,' she told reporters.

EU figures show more than 2,000 people are still arriving daily, despite choppy seas and wintery conditions.

Italy's Interior Minister, Angelino Alfano, said his country was not in favor of effectively pushing Europe's border up to Greece's northern border with Macedonia.

'We are of the idea that Europe must remain a stable structure, that there cannot be bits of Europe inside and bits of Europe outside because that would be the start of dissolution,' he said.

Ministers arriving for the meeting at Amsterdam's Maritime Museum were met by protesters in two boats, one full of showroom dummies wearing red life vests similar to those worn by migrants crossing from Turkey and another with a large sign saying: 'Leaders of Europe, it's not the polls you should worry about. It's the history books.'