We have been told by the left that allowing high levels of immigration is a matter of compassion and that to question it is somehow wrong. We were lectured by human rights lawyers like Keir Starmer that numbers don’t matter and nor does our own culture.
But as we witness waves of immigration without integration, no one in good faith can now accept the left’s arguments any longer. It has never been clearer that the public has had enough of uncontrolled immigration.
Rising crime, strained communities, public sector costs running to billions and pressure on housing can be traced back to failures in immigration policy. Parallel societies have developed in some parts of the country, with completely separate cultures and social norms that bear no relation to British life.
Evidence has recently come to light that certain nationalities have a very high propensity to commit crime. Afghan men, for example, are around 20 times more likely to commit sex offences than average. Congolese nationals are many times more likely to commit violent crime. And yet the full data on this issue is still not available.
This is precisely what had happened with the grooming gang scandal. They operated within a conspiracy of silence and cover up for years, because the majority of perpetrators were of Pakistani origin. Concerns around the demographics were dismissed as racist. We Conservatives have made clear this can never happen again.
That is why the revelations uncovered by The Express are so alarming. The CPS have no idea how many people who are here illegally have committed sexual crimes. The CPS even admits that it does not record or track whether a suspect or defendant is an asylum seeker in any way. That is not good enough.
I am calling on the Home Secretary, the Justice Secretary, and the Director of Public Prosecutions to start recording the facts in full. How many asylum seekers have been charged or convicted of offences, the data on the sentences given to asylum seekers for offences, and the data on whether asylum seekers convicted of offences were deported.
This is precisely why we brought forward amendments to the Victims and Courts Bill that would have forced the justice system to face up to reality. We would have required courts to record and publish the nationality and immigration status of every offender sentenced in England and Wales. Unsurprisingly, Labour voted this down.
The government must realise that when they are not honest about the dangers on their own streets, they should not be surprised when fury erupts.
The Conservatives will rebuild a new framework that admits only a limited number, decided by Parliament each year, and we will not let activist lawyers and campaigners override this. No one who commits a crime should become a British citizen.
Every illegal immigrant, every foreign criminal and every abuser who takes advantage of Britain should be removed swiftly and automatically.
But that can only truly be done, and the problem only really addressed, when we are able to tell the truth about who is committing these crimes.
Because you cannot build a safe country on moral paralysis, and you cannot protect the innocent by making excuses for the guilty. You can only build it based on truth, honesty, and tough action.