Yvette Cooper isn't telling you whole truth on foreign sex offenders living in UK

Today we woke up to the news that foreign sex offenders are to be barred from gaining asylum in the UK, or will indeed be sent back home, under a new law announced by the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. And the news is hot on the heels of recent revelations foreigners were convicted of up to 23 per cent of sexual offences, including rape, between 2021 and 2023.

And a weary, weary nation asks: "Why the hell were rapists and perverts ever allowed here in the first place?" But allowed they were, in their thousands. The new proposal is a Labour con of course, to look tough on immigration ahead of the local elections on Thursday - in which Reform are likely to humiliate the two major parties.

What Yvette shamefully isn't telling you however is that foreign sex offenders will still be able to appeal their asylum rejection and removal from the UK in immigration tribunals under the European Convention on Human Rights. To which a weary, weary nation asks: "Why are we still signed up to this outdated, not-fit-for-purpose Convention whose only role seems to be lining lawyers' pockets?"

It's the get-out-clause of all get-out-clauses. Don't expect any rapist deportations any time soon. So we will continue with the sick debacle of:

A child rapist from Eritrea who could not be sent home because it might harm his mental health; A Jamaican rapist whose criminal record is so bad an immigration tribunal made the sick ruling he cannot be deported back to his home country; A Romanian rapist who used twisted European Convention on Human Rights laws to avoid being deported because it might trigger PTSD; A Nigerian rapist who also used the ECHR to mock our laws. The Strasbourg court ruled that the 24-year-old man, known only as AA, would have his right to family life "violated" if he was sent back to Nigeria.

An Afghan convicted sex offender who was awarded refugee status after a judge ruled he would be at risk of "mob violence" in his home country; And of course the infamous case of the passengers who "mutinied" to stop the deportation of Somalian Yaqub Ahmed. When he was safely back in Britain it was revealed he was an evil child rapist. Well done those passengers, you must be so proud of your fight for the rights of child rapists.

And it gets worse. By the end of the year the Government has promised to publish a new tally of offences by nationality. But some data has already been released thanks to a series of freedom of information requests.

Try these:

Afghans and Eritreans are more than 20 times more likely to be convicted of sexual offences than British citizens; Foreign nationals are 71 per cent more likely than Britons to be convicted for sex crimes; Men from the DRC are 12 times more likely and Somalians are eight times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime than UK citizens; Algerians appear 18 times more likely to be convicted of theft as British citizens.

How can you not be furious with successive Governments for allowing this to happen? For allowing British citizens to have to put up with a raft of foreign sex offenders and thieves infecting our shores without any real attempt to stop them or indeed send them back to their home country?

These are not peaceable asylum seekers looking for refuge these are evil men and have no place in Britain. In fairness at least Yvette Cooper is admitting the scale of the problem. She said: "We are restoring order to a broken asylum system that has been mired in delay and dysfunction for far too long, and we are strengthening our system to make sure that the rules are respected and enforced.

"Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community should not be allowed to benefit from refugee protections in the UK. We are strengthening the law to ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously." And Kemi Badenoch, of course, may be unconvincing in many areas but she is rock solid on sex crimes.

She said: "Coming to this country is a privilege, never a right. It should not be afforded to anyone likely to endanger our citizens. I don't care if that ruffles Left-wing feathers. The public - and policymakers - need the truth. It will be hard for some to read. But I'll take a hard truth over a gentle lie every single time."

And she's right. Britain has been at a cross-roads, dithering, prevaricating, worrying far too much about "optics" than common sense. It's time for hard truths in every corner of national life.