MPs must dial down the rhetoric on migrants

Times

4 days ago

'We must protect our children. We are losing our country. This can't go on.' Robert Jenrick is in full flow this August. He cites a sexual assault in Epping, a near kidnapping in Stockport and rapes in Nuneaton, Portsmouth and Lambeth. 'All, allegedly, by illegal migrants,' according to the shadow justice secretary.
'I can't help but think it could have been one of my three young daughters. I certainly don't want my children to share a neighbourhood with immigrant men with backward views who broke into Britain,' the Tory MP writes, posting a picture of his girls. He adds ominously, 'Some of those who have migrated to the UK have frankly medieval attitudes to women.'
He's not alone in his thinking. This week Reform supporters went even further at a female-only press conference. British women are no longer safe to walk the streets, Farage's fillies said; it's no surprise we are seeing vigilante groups of men protecting their wives and girlfriends. We're going to have to lock up our daughters or they'll be molested by these dangerous foreigners who, Nigel Farage insists, come from countries where 'women aren't even second-class citizens'.
When I interviewed the Reform MP Sarah Pochin in June, she made it clear that her party would not tolerate this invasion of potential rapists, and told me the burqa was 'offensive and misogynistic' and must be banned. Mothers dressed in Barbie pink recently formed a group to protest against migrants at Canary Wharf and the Women's Safety Initiative has been set up to monitor alleged assaults on females by immigrants.
Their view is that the young males from distant climes who clamber off the small boats are likely to molest women and girls and to disrespect them. These predominantly Muslim men, the populist narrative goes, come from countries that are anti-feminist, where women are subservient creatures who must cover up to protect their modesty, stay at home and do their husbands' bidding. 'We've fought hard for our rights, we don't want to return to the Dark Ages but it's happening on our doorsteps, creeping in,' Pochin warned me.
This summer has become about women v immigrants, or as some increasingly appear to see it, women v Muslims. These alarmists say they are referring to asylum seekers crossing the Channel illegally, but they often go further, talking about taking on 'backward cultures' that have 'higher levels of violent and sexual crime', citing the predominantly Asian grooming gangs who have preyed on white girls across our towns and cities.
It's easy to say MPs such as Jenrick and Pochin are whipping up dissent, and cynically trying to manipulate the female vote. And in Reform's case it appears to be working. Polling from More In Common shows that, since the general election, support for Reform has grown by 14 per cent among women.
But do they have a point? Or do they just have anecdotal evidence for their accusations? According to the Reform-friendly Centre for Migration Control, foreign nationals were responsible for at least 15 per cent of sexual offences committed between 2021 and 2023, possibly as much as 23 per cent, despite making up only 9 per cent of the UK population, while Afghans and Eritreans nationals are 20 times more likely to be convicted of a sexual offence. But the Ministry of Justice doesn't publish the background of criminals by nationality, country of birth, visa status, asylum status or method of entry into the UK so it's hard to know if these assertions are correct.
What is true is that some Islamic countries don't share western values. In her book Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, Geraldine Brooks, a Middle East reporter, interviewed dozens of women, highlighting their oppression and limited agency, the acceptance of polygamy, the veil, female genital mutilation (FGM) and the segregation of women.
In Britain, the number of girls subjected to FGM has risen in the last year, according to NHS England. Only 46 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women work, compared with 70 per cent of all British women. But implying all Muslim men in the UK are prone to misogyny and all Muslim women are likely to be oppressed is outrageous. These politicians appear to be lumping the UK's four million Muslims together using incendiary language that often sounds racist rather than rational.
The government needs to get a grip before these battles escalate. Already 56 per cent of people think immigration is the most important issue facing this country, according to YouGov's tracker poll; part of their worry stems from this fear that our culture is under threat and crime is being stoked by foreigners.
First, the Ministry of Justice needs to break down the crime figures into ethnicity and immigration status, so the extent of the problem is clear.
Next, there is obviously a problem with asylum seekers held in hostels, hotels and houses in multiple occupation, dumped in wary communities, unable to find jobs with little to do except loiter on the streets. Their cases need to be heard fast without recourse to multiple legal appeals. Those who are given leave to remain should be dispersed and assimilated quickly so they can find employment. Gangs of young men of any religion or background roaming around aimlessly are almost always trouble.
Finally, the government needs to make it clear that this country stands firmly behind the rights of all women to work and assert control over their lives. The prime minister should insist that dressing in a niqab or burqa is seen in this country as an oppressive act — but so is banning anyone's freedom to wear what they want.
It is crucial that we have honest conversations about cultures, religions, social norms and crime without resorting to medieval tropes about invaders washing up on our shores and raping and pillaging their way through our land.