Britain is planning a substantial increase in its financial contribution to the United Nations agency which runs Palestinian refugee camps.

British officials said the annual contribution would be raised from ten million to more than thirteen million dollars.

The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, visited Palestinian refugees during his visit to the Middle East last month and his spokesman said he believed there was a humanitarian and political case for increasing the amount of help available to them.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency -- UNRWA -- has looked after Palestinian refugee camps for more than thirty years and is believed to be facing a financial crisis as the number of refugees has increased by thirty per cent over the past five years.