Labour MP for Dover says the 'majority of small boat migrants are not rapists'

The majority of illegal migrants entering the UK are not rapists or sex offenders, a Labour minister has insisted. Mike Tapp, who was appointed migration minister in Keir Starmer's reshuffle last week, said the Home Office had made a "fantastic start" to tackling illegal migration but stopped short of labelling all illegal arrivals as potential criminals. Speaking on Sky News' show, The Immigration Debate, Reform UK's head of policy Zia Yusuf asked Mr Tapp: "How many British people need to be raped or murdered by people who came to the country illegally?

"What is the acceptable number? Because in our view, the number is zero. Every single one of those tragedies is directly downstream from appalling Government policy, from people like the Tories and current Government, who are unwilling and unable to defend and secure our borders." The Labour MP for Dover responded: "One rape, one sexual assault is too many, but the majority of those that come over are not rapists and sexual assaulters. It's important that we secure the borders and stop this illegal migration. That is our top priority."

Reports of asylum seekers being charged with sexual offences have sparked nationwide protests outside migrant hotels in recent months, including outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

The latest Home Office figures show 674 people arriving in the UK in small boats on Tuesday, bringing the provisional total for 2025 so far to 30,838 - 37% up on the same period last year, according to the PA News Agency.

When pressed by Sky host Trevor Phillips about why the number of crossings had risen since Labour came to power, Mr Tapp said the issue was "not a quick fix".

"When you've inherited a system that had 150,000 crossings in just three or four years, it's unacceptable," he added.

"What we're doing at this point is ensuring we're working closely with the French operationally through things like technology, radars, drones, ensuring that they've got enough people on the beach. It's not enough at the moment - it's as simple as that. Otherwise we wouldn't see the boats crossings as they are."

Mr Yusuf suggested that small boat crossings were continuing to increase because of Labour's "soft touch" approach to migration.

"We would have no hesitation to using the Royal Navy to detain all of those illegal migrants, transport them directly to a detention camp and then deport them," he said.

The UK-France migrant returns deal came into effect this summer, but has yet to see anyone sent back from the UK. New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said pilot removals of migrants to the continent would begin "imminently".