CAMPAIGNERS and MPs joined forces yesterday to condemn David Cameron’s shameful and “pathetic” response to the escalating refugee crisis.

A petition demanding the government help men, women and children fleeing war-torn Syria soared past 200,000 signatures last night — more than double the amount needed to secure an emergency Westminster debate.

Yet despite the growing public outrage amid horrific images of the bodies of children as young as three washed up on beaches in Turkey, the Prime Minister is still refusing to take humanitarian action.

A spokesman for the British-based Migrants Rights Network told the Star: “It is clear that the government has found itself on the wrong side of the argument by refusing to offer more places for migrants seeking sanctuary.

“Germany is now projected to take 30 times as many refugees as the UK.

“With the outpouring of public support we’ve seen in the last 12 hours, it will be increasingly more difficult for David Cameron to ignore the issue.”

Labour called on Mr Cameron to convene the government’s Cobra emergency security committee, schedule an urgent parliamentary debate and convene a summit of EU leaders.

The Tory PM said yesterday that he was “deeply moved” by the image of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler found drowned in Turkey.

But he refused to commit Britain to further action, saying only that Britain would fulfil its “moral responsibilities.”

Chancellor George Osborne insisted Britain had always helped “genuine” refugees, adding: “We have taken 5,000 people from the Syrian conflict, we will go on taking people and keep it under review.”

That figure is dwarfed however by the 35,000 refugees from Syria that have been resettled in Germany, according to UN estimates.

And Labour leadership frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn demanded Britain must now take its fair share of refugees.

“Millions are desperately fleeing a terrible civil war, risking their lives and the lives of their children to seek only the most basic sanctuary,” he said.

“This government’s response has been shameful. David Cameron must shoulder his responsibility and begin urgent talks with our European neighbours and the UN so that the UK takes its fair share of refugees.”

Even senior Tories blasted Mr Cameron’s inaction. MP Nadhim Zahawi said the photo of the drowned toddler should “make us all ashamed” and former foreign office minister Baroness Warsi insisting that “we have to be prepared to share the burden.”

Britain has opted out of EU arrangements that could have seen it take in tens of thousands of asylum-seekers being redistributed from Greece, Hungary and Italy.

PCS union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It has been clear for weeks that we are facing the biggest humanitarian crisis for years and our government’s response has been wilfully pathetic.”

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