A 50P coin celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) should prompt reflection on the human cost of Britain’s anti-refugee hysteria, a leading anti-racist said yesterday. 

Stand Up to Racism’s Sabby Dhalu welcomed the Mint’s issue of the coin, which features a design by John Bergdahl celebrating the charity’s work saving lives at sea since 1824.

She pointed out that the RNLI should be defended given attacks from Conservative politicians who have accused it of pursuing “politically correct” policies and by Nigel Farage, who sneered that it was a “migrant taxi service.”