SAJID JAVID’S rhetoric about migrant boats is “inflammatory” and “irresponsible,” a refugee rights group warned today.

The Home Secretary said he was to “deeply concerned” after 74 people crossed the English Channel in small boats on Saturday.

Dover’s Tory MP Charlie Elphicke demanded tougher measures to prevent a “surge” and said the authorities needed to “get a grip on this crisis.”

But Kent Refugee Action Network (Kran) told the Morning Star that the politicians were “playing to the gallery.” Spokeswoman Bridget Chapman said: “It’s really dangerous calling it a surge, I think that’s really irresponsible.

“Some people locally are saying they are going to start patrolling, and I worry what would happen if they came across a refugee boat.”

Far-right group South East Coastal Defence says it is on the lookout for new arrivals because Kent is “completely unprotected.” It denies being racist — but is “concerned” about migrants bringing diseases into Britain.

Its website lists several partner organisations, including a YouTube channel that posted a 20-minute video supporting “Tommy Robinson” — real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — shot outside the far-right rent-a-gob’s Old Bailey trial last year.

Kran said there was “no such thing as an illegal asylum-seeker,” explaining that people are “perfectly entitled under the Geneva Convention” to seek refuge in Britain.

“Many of the people arriving by boat are Kurds who have fled Iran,” Ms Chapman said. “In my experience most of these people have a well-founded fear of persecution.

“There are far more people coming in lorries, but it does not have the same emotive impact as boats.”