Reform MP Sarah Pochin has asserted that the safety of women and girls in the UK is being jeopardised by the country's immigration policy. Speaking in a heated Commons debate on illegal immigration, Pochin made a series of contentious claims about migrant crime, drawing on a petition signed by more than 700,000 people that calls for offshore detention facilities for those arriving illegally.
Pochin's Allegations on Migrant Crime and Costs
During the debate, Pochin told MPs: "The safety of women and girls in this country is at risk because of our immigration policy." She alleged that rates of rape by migrants from "certain countries" are significantly higher than among the general population and claimed there are "documented examples of illegal immigrants loitering outside of schools, filming children, following girls."
Pochin also highlighted the financial burden, stating that the total cost of housing illegal migrants is "over £8bn and rising." She declared: "We are not a food bank, or a hotel, for the world." In her address, she said: "Illegal immigration is helping to bankrupt this country, our high streets are being overrun by crime, our women and girls are under attack and our culture is under threat."
Demands for Tougher Immigration Measures
The Reform MP demanded that ministers "detain and deport every illegal immigrant that lands on our shores," put "the navy in the channel," and take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Her intervention came during a Westminster Hall debate triggered by a petition, introduced by Conservative MP John Lamont, who told MPs "our asylum system is broken" and that housing migrants in hotels has "led to justified public anger."
Lamont, a Scottish Conservative, said the current system is "poor value for money" and fuels "an ongoing cost to already strained local services and the breakdown of community cohesion." He insisted the proposals are not extreme, telling the Commons: "These policies are not 'far right', they are right to be properly considered." He added: "The truth of the matter is our immigration system is broken beyond belief, and the British people know it."
Labour MP Warns Against Inflammatory Rhetoric
However, Labour MP Jonathan Brash warned against inflammatory language, insisting his Hartlepool constituents are "entitled to be angry" but should not be put "at risk" by rhetoric that turns "legitimate concern into racial hostility." Brash said he would not make "innocent people pay the price for the failures in the immigration system" and backed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's efforts to control the border. He said "progress is being made" under Labour, with net migration having "fallen dramatically" from the peak under the previous Government.
