Bishops from the Church of England are urging the government to accept more Syrian refugees, arguing that Britain's response to the crisis has been inadequate.

More than 80 bishops have written to Prime Minister David Cameron calling for the country to accept as many as 50,000 refugees — 30,000 more than already pledged.

They wrote that "it would be a meaningful and substantial response to the scale of human suffering we see daily."

The bishops sent the letter to Cameron in September, but released it publicly after failing to receive what they described as an adequate response.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon on Sunday defended the government's actions on Syria, telling the BBC's Andrew Marr program it had spent more than $1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) to support refugees in camps near Syria.