Merkel facing further pressure for a cap on migrants entering Germany after allies call for limit on ‘excessive’ number of newcomers 

Angela Merkel’s open-door policy was challenged by her own political allies again yesterday as she faced calls for a cap on the numbers entering Germany.

Almost 1.1million migrants are estimated to have arrived last year, mainly through the state of Bavaria which borders Austria and the Czech Republic.

The state governor yesterday said the German Chancellor should drastically limit the ‘excessive’ number of newcomers.

Horst Seehofer, who leads the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said: ‘In Germany, the arrival of 100,000 to a maximum 200,000 asylum seekers and war refugees a year would pose no problem.’

The CSU has already called for Germany to cap the numbers it takes in. Ahead of the party’s annual conference this week, Mr Seehofer said: ‘Limiting the number of migrants must be the main objective in 2016.

‘This figure [200,000] is tolerable and, in that case, integration would also work properly. For me, anything above that is excessive.’

Mr Seehofer warned that there could be up to 1.5million arrivals this year unless measures to check the crisis were taken.

He also said that other EU members, Arab countries and the US should shoulder more responsibility for refugees. Mr Seehofer added: ‘We have the latter to thank for many of the problems that are causing people to flee.’

Mrs Merkel rejected a cap on refugees in her New Year message, although she has vowed to reduce numbers this year.

Last month, Wolfgang Steiger, the general secretary of her CDU party, said a ceiling for the numbers coming into both Germany and the EU should be set urgently.