🧵 As front-page headlines go, this has to be one of the most misleading I've seen in a long time It's an out-and-out lie But notice the trick they use to get away with it...👀 *They're* not lying - they're just quoting someone else who is👍🏻 In this case, the leader of the opposition🙄 1/33
So let's take a look at where that terrible headline came from and what other misinformation is loaded into the article itself. All put there by Kemi Badenoch. 2/ The article begins with a claim that the asylum seekers will be "unchecked" and that they could be murderers... We'll come to the "more freedom" part shortly, but let's start with the "unchecked" part first 3/
In reality, their biometric data (which doesn't rely on their ID or documents!) is checked against: Immigration, Security and Criminality databases They are checked for: Convictions Pending prosecutions Wanted or missing reports. So not "unchecked" Wanted murderers will be picked up!👍🏻 4/
Next, she says that this is all about women's safety and talks about how scared women in this village are of having asylum seekers moving in nearby. As an aside, there has been a military base there for decades, as has a men's prison. We'll cover sexual abuse rates in the military shortly... 5/
There is NO evidence that asylum seekers pose a particular risk to women. There is NO data showing they are any more dangerous than any other man. And no, memes and random highly manipulated graphs on social media don't count! Every time a claim surfaces suggesting otherwise, it is debunked🤷♀️ Remember this one from last year with 4 MILLION views and repeated by every right-wing commentator at the time? Yeah, completely made up🙄 Dorset police confirmed just 1% of alleged offences were carried out by AS in asylum hotels. So why did the Right lie? 7/
And the FOI asking Dorset Police for the number of men charged with sexual offences in Dorset living in asylum accommodation? The answer was.... ONE
Just one man charged. Which got national press coverage - understandably. But did any of the other 739,000 sexual assaults that happened in England and Wales that took place that year get national media coverage? No - you ONLY hear about it if the perpetrator is an asylum seeker. 9/
85% of rapes are perpetrated by men known to the victim. We are not "protecting women" by pretending the asylum seekers are the threat. Women are no more or less in danger from an asylum seeker than they are from their boss, the Tesco delivery man, or the pub landlord. 10/
But women in Piddington are quite literally being told by the Leader of the Opposition that they should fear for their LIVES and that never leaving the house after dark is a reasonable precaution! This isn't protecting them. This is seriously damaging them. 11/ Don't forget, the women of Piddington have been living next to a military base for decades. This is what a study last year found about sexual abuse within the millitary... 12/
And a 2015 report highlighted there were AT LEAST 400 cases of rape or sexual assault in the military over 5 years - not including cases dealt with by the police One case every 3 weeks In 2015 there were 138,1700 men in the UK military I suspect the 'per capita' crowd may fall silent about now...
In fact, it was so bad that there was a campaign called: "Don't kid yourself. Without consent, it's RAPE" (I know, it seems British men ALSO need to be taught about consent! - who knew 🤷♀️) 14/
And yet the Tory leader and the front page of the Express weren't telling the women of Piddington to lock their doors and not go out at night when they were living next to an army barracks🤷♀️ 15/ Next up, Badenoch claims asylum seekers cannot be detained because of the ECHR🙄 It is complete nonsense that if we left the ECHR, we could imprison all asylum seekers simply for claiming asylum... Because the ECHR is not the only thing governing this space. 16/
UK law does not allow for the detention (beyond the initial screening and questioning) of asylum seekers or refugees Nor does the 1951 Refugee Convention, which we, alongside 142 other countries, are signed up to. Leaving the ECHR is no more a magic bullet than Brexit was...
And yet the same people who lied to you about Brexit are now doing the same about the ECHR. As an aside, guess how many times the ECHR ruled against the UK on immigration removal cases in the last 45 YEARS? Go on - how many times have you seen the media tell you the ECHR stopped a deportation?
The answer is 13 times. In 45 YEARS! So maybe the ECHR isn't the bogeyman Badenoch and Farage are trying to convince you it is🤷♀️ And never forget they told you leaving the EU would "solve" immigration and look how that turned out!🙄 19/
And then we get to the front-page quote... "They're almost, in a certain sense, given more freedom than actual citizens of the country" Why? ...Because they're not imprisoned when they arrive🤷♀️ That's it - that's their "more freedom" than British citizens! 20/
She does at least have the good grace to say "they're almost" and "in a certain sense" The Daily Express didn't bother with those caveats on their front page. So no - they're NOT "almost" or in ANY "certain sense" "given more freedom the natural citizens of the country" 21/ Do you want to know what Rights they have? That's it 👇 Name me one thing on that list that is NOT available to a British citizen? 22/
They are not allowed to work, and they do not have access to UK benefits. IF that leaves them destitute, then they are entitled to accommodation and either: Food and £9.95 per week or £49.18 per week while their applications are processed. 23/ And they don't get any say over where they live - regularly being moved across the country with little to no notice, regardless of whether kids are at school or they're registered for medical needs locally As one Iraqi family explains 👇 (Kadir is the Dad, Mira the Mum. Shayan is 12, Roman 14)
No choice where they live, and often pretty grim or even dangerous conditions wherever they are dumped. I promise you - they do NOT have more freedoms than you! 25/
Badenoch goes on to claim that no one will be "watching and monitoring" them. But that's not true either... 26/
Permanent 24-hour security teams on site Security systems including CCTV Collaboration with the local police Everyone has to sign out and back in again. Tell me again how that shows "no one is watching and monitoring" them?? 27/
I love the fact that she has to mention an OPEN prison - because there is, in fact, a male prison on the site already! But then she goes back to her lies about us knowing nothing about them... 28/
It's funny how, under her administration, it was just an "immigration issue", but now it is about "women's safety" Nothing's changed - except immigration is down, boat crossings down, hotel use down, backlog down... But they have to keep the narrative going and hope you don't know that!
The article ends with a chilling suggestion that a "very able force" of ex-military men would like to hang around villages to give a "consoling factor to our women and children"😱 I refer you to tweets 12-14! 30/
We already know what the "protect our women" crowd are like. (And yes - those are 2 different Raise the Flag founders - one charged with murder and the other facing 14 charges!) The last thing Piddington wants is these guys roaming their streets... 31/
Sorry - it's been a long one today! Lots of false claims to cover! But wow, is that headline appalling! Always be suspicious when you see quotation marks in a headline - it is usually a newspaper's way of telling a lie with plausible deniability! 32/
More details and all links are in my Substack: monkdebunks.substack.com It's free to read and subscribe, but paid subscriptions and coffee (or tea in my case!) donations (buymeacoffee.com) can support me in doing these debunks!😊 33/33