Mail on Sunday report: 974 hijabs given to small-boat migrants this year

Right · 1The Mail on Sunday reported that internal government documents show officials gave out 974 hijabs to migrants who crossed the Channel in small boats this year. 1 Right · 1GB News, citing Home Office data obtained by the Mail, said the 974 hijabs were issued between January and June, which it put at about 162 a month. It estimated the total would be close to 1,500 by now if that rate had continued. 2 Right · 2The hijabs were reportedly included in clothing packs given to arrivals. The Express says 15,406 packs were issued in total, including 10,694 for men, 773 for boys, 829 for girls and 350 babygrows. It gives 2,760 for women, while GB News gives 2,670. 1 2

Right · 2The Mail on Sunday's own article gives the women's figure as 2,670, matching GB News, so the Express's 2,760 appears to differ from the original report. The Mail also lists 572 beanie hats and says 22 of the men's packs were in XXX Large. 3 1 Right · 1The packs typically contain dry tracksuits and disposable slippers for migrants held in short-term holding rooms by immigration authorities. 1 Right · 2A Home Office spokesperson said all arrivals receive a basic dry clothing pack where required and that the items form part of standard welfare arrangements. The Express says the department told the Mail on Sunday it has a legal duty to provide them under the short-term holding facility rules, first set in 2018 under a Conservative government and last amended under Rishi Sunak. GB News adds that the rules say migrants' cultural and religious needs must be catered for so far as is practicable. 1 2

Right · 1Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Mail the government must stop handing out hijabs immediately. He called it an insult to taxpayers and said the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights. Reform UK MP Andrew Rosindell told GB News the state should not be giving these people anything and that doing so encourages arrivals. 2 Right · 1The Mail also quoted Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott, who said she opposed hijabs in school uniforms and did not believe the state should be party to an "instrument of female suppression". It placed the story amid controversy over Muslim headwear, which it said many critics regard as a symbol of female subservience. It also linked it to the charging of two Iranian nationals who arrived on small boats with planning a terror attack in Manchester. 3 Right · 1Breitbart, citing the Mail on Sunday, ran the story with a headline about free hijabs "via Taxpayer's Purse". It listed other benefits it said migrants receive and described the Labour government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham as "left-wing". It said the Home Office "claimed" a legal duty, and did not carry the Home Office's statement that crossings are down. 4

Right · 2The two outlets give different context on crossings. The Express cites Oxford University's Migration Observatory: about 36,000 arrivals in the year to May 2026, 13 per cent fewer than a year earlier, after 41,000 in 2025. GB News says nearly 20,000 have arrived this year, down 42 per cent on the same period of 2025, and quotes a Home Office spokesman saying crossings are down significantly and summer arrivals are the fewest since 2020. 2 1