Migrant camps in France must be nipped in the bud, an MP has insisted after a huge fire last night.

A camp near Dunkirk, housing 1,500 people, was destroyed last night after a battle between rival gangs of Afghans and Kurds, according to reports.

Now Charlie Elphicke, Dover and Deal MP, said “This shows just dangerous these camps are - for the people who live there and for tourists and truckers who travel through the area.

“The French must be on high alert to stop any migrants from trying to set up new camps in Calais or Dunkirk - before the first tent is pitched.

“These vulnerable people should be helped to reception centres far from Calais.

“Safe places with proper sanitation - and then helped back to their home nations.

"It’s time to put an end to these squalid camps and the people traffickers who roam free within them.”

Smaller camps have sprung up in northern France since the notorious Calais Jungle camp, containing up to 10,000 people, was closed last October.

Again they contain migrants from Africa and Asia trying to break into Britain, usually via the backs of lorries.

It was reported that at least 10 people were injured in last night’s blaze at the Grande-Synthe camp.

Its population is said to have grown since the destruction of the Jungle 25 miles away.

The residents have now been moved to emergency accommodation, including two nearby gymnasiums.

This has been an immense social problem for years with migrants travelling thousands of miles and living in squalor in northern France.

But they have also been accused of threatening Dover-bound lorry drivers in their attempts to get across the Channel.

The problem caused huge disruption to Kent in summer 2015.

Then, migrant activity both on the Dover to Calais route and in the Channel Tunnel area contributed to main roads in the county being gridlocked almost daily.