Mahmood says nearly all women reaching northern France for small boats have been raped

Mixed · 2Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast that nearly all women who try to reach the UK in small boats from northern France have been raped on their journey. 1 2 Mixed · 2Speaking to the former Tory minister Rory Stewart and Tony Blair's former adviser Alastair Campbell, she said: "You can almost guarantee that every woman that's in the north of France has probably been raped along the journey." She added that some of the men had also been abused and threatened. 1 2 Mixed · 2Her argument was that the UK is "not in control of this border" because criminal gangs who are also people traffickers decide who ends up in northern France and gets on a dinghy, and that this is not the model that should decide who gets to come to the UK. 1 2

Mixed · 2In the same interview she said balaclava-wearing protesters who shut down ports and praise her policies should "sod off", calling them "troublemakers" who she said would "kill" her and "kick me out of my own country" because they do not think she is a true Brit and hate that she is a Muslim. 1 2 Mixed · 2Mahmood also said she considers herself part of the pro-Palestinian cause and felt "very uncomfortable" about arrests of activists under section 13 of the Terrorism Act over the Palestine Action ban, but defended enforcing it, saying principles must be applied even when uncomfortable. 1 2 Mixed · 2Both outlets note that Merseyside police arrested 82 people at the Labour conference in Liverpool on suspicion of wearing or carrying articles supporting a proscribed organisation, at a protest organised by Defend Our Juries. The Daily Mail adds a Merseyside police statement that not everyone present had committed an offence and that the force aims to apply the law consistently, fairly and proportionately. 1 2

Left · 1The Guardian carries a response from Imran Hussain of the Refugee Council, who welcomed her acknowledgment of widespread sexual violence but questioned why the government closed safe and legal routes, including family reunion last year, and said new safe routes should not be limited to a few hundred people. 1 Left · 1A government spokesperson said the Border Security Command works around the clock to monitor the Channel and that it is vital to detain, check and process every small boat arrival. 1 Mixed · 2The Daily Mail pairs the interview with a report that about 300 anti-migrant protesters clashed with police in Gosport on Sunday night as migrants arrived at Haslar Marina, with the Home Office confirming 149 migrants were picked up in a mid-Channel rescue by the RNLI and a French coastguard vessel and taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent. The Guardian reported that authorities were preparing for a dinghy heading for the south coast, and Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage said police were making preparations. 2 1

Left · 1Neither article cites data or evidence for the scale of sexual violence beyond Mahmood's own remarks, and the Guardian describes the statement as something she "claimed". 1