Small boats migrants from Muslim countries pose sexual assault risk

Independent

8 hours ago

Reform UK has said migrants from Muslim countries pose a threat to women's safety in Britain, as the party's only female MP claimed asylum seekers arriving on small boats hold 'medieval views'.
Sarah Pochin told reporters that a quarter of sexual assault convictions last year were committed by foreign nationals, as she warned of the risk of 'sexual assault and rape'.
The Runcorn and Helsby MP also told the PA news agency that US President Donald Trump, who Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage has a close relationship with, could come across as a 'bit of a chauvinist' but had appointed women at the top of his team.
Ms Pochin claimed the problem posed by migrants arriving on small boats from France was a 'national security' issue, which also posed significant dangers for women and girls.
She said: 'The vast majority of these migrants are young, military-aged males. We can see it with our own eyes.'
'The inconvenient truth for the left is that the culture of men from predominantly Muslim countries like Afghanistan is one that holds a medieval view of women's rights.
'It is fundamentally alien to the centuries of progress made by our own western culture and attitudes.
'Women are at risk of sexual assault and rape from these men, hundreds of young men who arrive in this country, housed in our communities, who undoubtedly become sexually frustrated, have a warped view of their right to sexually assault women.'
She claimed that of 1,453 sexual assault convictions in 2024, a quarter were committed by foreign nationals.
She said: 'Afghan men are three times more likely to be convicted of a sexual offence than someone born in the United Kingdom and represent the largest group of migrants who commit sexual violence against women, and yet we know that 18,000 at least, were covertly let into this country by the last government with no security vetting.'
She said Reform would deport all small boats migrants who live in Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs), who have been moved out of hotels.
The party would also deport foreign criminals, she added, and went on to tell a press conference on women's safety in Westminster that police would be made to respond to every 'inappropriate sexual behaviour' report made against a migrant.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the Government would deport foreign criminals who are not serving life sentences.
He said: 'They have no place in our prisons, no place in our society. We've taken radical action to ramp up the deportation of the portion of foreign criminals.
'It's right that we seek to deport foreign criminals from our prisons, both saving money for the British taxpayer, but also protecting the public from dangerous criminals who would otherwise, after their release, be back on our streets.'
Ms Pochin later said Mr Trump 'clearly does respect women' although she admitted he can appear as a 'bit of a chauvinist'.
She denied Reform UK was aligned with the US president but added: 'Donald Trump certainly comes across at times, when I look at him through the television or the media, as possibly a bit of a chauvinist, or whatever.
'But look at his team. I mean, his press secretary (Karoline Leavitt) is awesome – can't remember her name – but he has a lot of very senior women in his team.
'So actually, he clearly does respect women and promotes women in his team, as Nigel is very much doing, as you've seen today, with four senior women hosting this press conference.'
Speaking at the event, the party's Mayor for Greater Lincolnshire Dame Andrea Jenkyns detailed physical threats and verbal abuse she and activists had faced online and in public.
She criticised the police, including under the previous Conservative government she was a part of, for inaction over them.
The former Tory minister detailed explicit threats she had faced and claimed those responsible were let off by police or not found.
Dame Andrea said: 'I received 70 emails in three months telling me I needed to buy a stab vest and watch out. The person was let off with just a caution.
'I don't feel safe, and as a mother, I no longer feel that our children live in a safe, beautiful haven of Britain that I grew up in.'
But she told PA she thought the Government's Online Safety Act, which has been criticised by Reform UK, would not solve the issue and would instead push people onto the 'dark web'.
She said: 'We're already seeing quite benign social media posts being monitored, and how far does it go where it starts actually silencing free speech?'