By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-10-09 20:35:53 | Updated at 2026-10-09 21:02:53
34 minutes ago
Labour has been told to tell GB News the truth about its pamphlet advising asylum seekers how not to rape women after ignoring a Freedom of Information request from GB News.
The People’s Channel submitted its request for information on costs, languages used and the number of pamphlets distributed on August 20, giving the Home Office until September 17 to respond.
The nine-page pamphlet, which was released by the Home Office on August 19, told asylum seekers both people must agree to have sex and consent cannot be given if someone is asleep, drunk, or unable to respond.
It also makes clear it is not acceptable to whistle or make kissing noises at people on the street, "make sexual comments to someone", and that women in the UK have equal rights to men.
GB News received an automated response to its first email requesting an update on September 30.
After the Home Office was approached for comment, the department's Freedom of Information team accelerated its response by sending a word-for-word copy of the first email in an update.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told The People’s Channel: “The Home Office knows illegal immigrant men are a danger to women and girls, committing many rapes and sexual assaults.
“Yet instead of deporting illegal immigrants, they hand out leaflets begging them not to rape anyone.
“Now they are hiding the truth from GB News and the public by refusing to disclose more details.
“This looks more and more like a cover-up. Which is probably also why the Labour Government is fighting in the courts to hide migrant crime data.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is under fire after the department refused to release information on its asylum seeker guide
PA
The Home Office's guide sparked fury in August after Andy Burnham was forced to defend its publication.
The Prime Minister said: "It’s made explicitly clear what the UK law is and what the societal norms of the UK are, and that’s why this approach is being taken."
Labour minister Georgia Gould also told GB News: "We have been really clear that anyone who breaks the law of this country is not welcome in this country, and we have taken action to make it easier to deport people who break the law here."
GB News understands Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has accelerated the removal of 11,733 foreign offenders since Labour came to power in July 2024.
However, there are growing concerns about sexual offences being committed by men who have arrived on British shores via small boats.
Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who was eventually returned home, was jailed for 12 months after being convicted of sexual assault in Epping.
Meanwhile, Kurdish migrant Mehmet Ogur was sentenced to serve seven years behind bars after raping an 18-year-old woman.
Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, from Egypt, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran, were also handed 21-year prison sentences after raping a woman on Brighton beach in October last year.
Self-described Palestinian Mohammed Abbas, who arrived on British shores in March, also carried out sex crimes against two young girls just days after being handed a £250,000 two-bedroom taxpayer-funded home in Cardiff.
However, the Home Office's Freedom of Information debacle has subsequently fuelled concerns from residents living in Piddington amid plans to house 1,256 migrants at MoD Bicester.
Piddington local Samantha Phillips said: “If the migrants do not pose a threat, why was this leaflet produced?”
Louise Brooker also told GB News: “I believe it is entirely reasonable for the public to ask basic questions about the pamphlet and its distribution.”
Deborah Walton added: “A Government is accountable to the public, this secrecy is very worrying.”
The Home Office’s decision to ignore GB News’s request came after months of rejecting calls to release information on the migrant crisis.
The People’s Channel unsuccessfully submitted a Freedom of Information request in March about local authorities hoping to house asylum seekers in newly revamped council houses.
The Home Office also rejected a request about payments to France ahead of the brief extension of the now botched “one-in, one-out” deal due to administrative costs.
GB News was told it would receive a response on taxpayer-incurred costs on translator costs for migrants housed at Wethersfield and Crowborough on September 23.
However, The People's Channel is still awaiting a response 12 working days later.
GB News has subsequently submitted a request on how many times the Home Office has refused to provide information or delayed its response beyond 20 working days.
A former Home Office official told GB News: “The Home Office spends more time covering up the problem than solving it.”
Ex-Home Office Minister Kevin Foster also warned: “Covering these facts up will just add to the anger and again show Labour not wanting to face up to the truth of what the small boats crisis means for the safety of our communities.”
Ministers are now considering a more drastic Freedom of Information clampdown by cutting the £600 processing ceiling after Whitehall received a record 83,041 submissions in 2024.
However, official figures show the Home Office rejected 1,686 requests due to cost in 2025, up from 1,071 the year before.
The News Media Association also said the thresholds were set more than 20 years ago and have never been raised in line with inflation, with the £600 limit being worth around £1,100 today.
Ameer Kotecha, a former Whitehall mandarin who now heads up the Centre for Government Reform, said: "These are simple questions, and the Home Office has had nearly two months to answer them.
"Missing a legal deadline on something this sensitive is a failure of basic accountability.
"When it was revealed in August that the Home Office had had to produce a booklet telling asylum seekers not to rape, it understandably caused widespread concern amongst the British public.
"The public has a right to know the context around this guidance, including the extent of distribution.
"When a department cannot meet its own transparency obligations, people reasonably conclude it has something to hide."
The People's Channel is aware of requests being rejected due to cost restraints, international treaty obligations and the information likely being prejudicial to the commercial interests of an individual.
However, GB News also understands members of the public have been accused of submitting "vexatious" requests.
In one rejected request, which was shared with GB News, the Ministry of Justice told a Piddington resident that "complying with this request would impose a disproportionate and unjustified burden on departmental resources".
A Home Office spokesman told The People's Channel: "We expect everyone who comes to the UK to abide by our laws.
"If they do not, they will face consequences, including the refusal of their asylum claim and removal from the UK.
“Returns of failed asylum seekers have reached their highest level since 2010 under this Government.”
