Diplomatic efforts to tackle the crisis in Sudan have proved "too little and too late", the Conservatives have said.

Shadow international development secretary John Bercow said that British troops should be sent to the Darfur region "in a matter of days" unless the situation improves.

Despite a new United Nations security council resolution calling for an end to attacks on civilians, concern remains that the Sudanese government is unwilling to act.

The UN has also warned of possible sanctions if action is not taken by the end of August.

But with pro-government Arab militias accused of slaughtering thousands of black Africans, Bercow said that not enough was being done.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that troops should be sent "within a matter of days if there is not demonstrable evidence of improvement".

"Unless there is evidence of real change, I believe that international action in the name of humanity is needed," Bercow added.

"All the evidence shows that the government of Sudan responds only to pressure, pressure, pressure and more pressure.

"There has been too little and it is too late.

"The prime minister, whose humanitarian interventionism I greatly admire, told the Labour Party conference in 2001 that if ever there was a threat of a repetition of Rwanda, Britain would have a moral duty to act. There is, and we have."

The Tory frontbencher also described the UN's resolution as an "essay in timidity".

"Its hardly an inspired declaration of public intent," he said.