EXCLUSIVE: The founder of the of the Women’s Safety Institute is urging the government to prioritise the safety of Brits.
Jess Gill is urging Labour to prioritise women’s safety over asylum seeker’s benefits. (Image: PA)
The “comfort of migrants” is being put ahead of women’s safety, a leading campaigner has claimed. Her comments follow the latest Home Office data showing that by the end of June, 32,059 asylum seekers were housed in UK hotels during Labour’s first year in office – an 8% rise from 2024. The number of people claiming asylum has also jumped by 14%. Critics are now urging Labour to address the issue of women’s safety in relation to immigration, warning that the “situation is getting worse.”
Jess Gill, founder and director of the Women’s Safety Institute (WSI) and a politics student, expressed frustration over the figures. The 22-year-old argued that the “comfort” of illegal migrants is being prioritised over the safety of women, with money diverted from British taxpayers to fund asylum seekers’ benefits.
Jess Gill, founder and director of the Women’s Safety Institute. (Image: -)
“When it comes to illegal immigration and housing them and giving them all of these benefits, when you compare that to the amount of funding that could be used, for example, on domestic violence support, this money could be used to help our own people and help our own women. Their comfort is being prioritised over the safety of women.”
She added: “Nothing has happened when it comes to women’s safety regarding immigration, and I feel like the situation has become so much worse.”
The Home Office data reveals that the number of people claiming asylum in the UK hit a record 111,084 in the year to June 2025 – up 14% from 97,107 the previous year. Small boat deportations also fell by 7%, down to 2,330 over the same period. The previous record for asylum claims had been 109,343 in the 12 months to March 2025.
Polling by Find Out Now, commissioned by the WSI, found that almost four in ten people support limiting immigration from countries with poor women’s rights, while nearly nine in ten believe foreign sex offenders should be deported.
When asked whether immigration levels impact women’s safety in their area, 47% of 2,000 Britons surveyed said they believed it did.
“We need deportations for migrants, legal or illegal, who have committed sex crimes,” Ms Gill said.
32,059 asylum seekers were housed in UK hotels during Labour’s first year in office. (Image: Getty)
“These men come from countries where the culture there is to treat women like objects, and that must have a role to play. Whatever the reason is, the statistics don’t lie, and there’s obviously a massive, massive problem there.”
An analysis earlier this year by the Centre for Migration Control, using data from police forces, the Home Office, and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), revealed that foreign nationals are more than three times as likely to be arrested for sexual offences as British citizens.
Police recorded more than 9,000 arrests of foreign nationals for sexual offences in the first 10 months of last year across 41 of the 43 forces in England and Wales – 26.1% of the estimated 35,000 total arrests.
Foreign nationals were arrested for sexual offences at a rate of nearly 165 per 100,000 of the migrant population, compared with 48 per 100,000 for Britons, making them 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for such crimes.
Ms Gill founded the WSI after a series of tragedies near her hometown of Bolton, Manchester. “There’s the grooming gangs, there’s the murder of Emily Jones in Bolton by an Albanian woman, and there was the Manchester bombing,” she explained.
After moving to London, she said day-to-day incidents became common, “whether that was someone staring at me, someone making weird comments at me, or someone following me.”
Since launching in April 2025, the WSI has grown to over 700 community members and gained more than 51,000 social media followers.
The group now hosts meetings with councillors about women’s safety, organises events for victims of grooming gangs, and brings concerned members together to push for change.
A Government spokesperson said: “Any foreign national who commits sexual offences in our country will be deported at the earliest opportunity, and thanks to further reforms in our Border Security Bill, any asylum claims they make will also be denied.
“This Government has already removed almost 5,200 foreign national offenders in its first year in office, a 14 per cent increase on the previous twelve months, and we will continue to crack down on any foreign nationals who come to this country and break our rules.
“The security of the local communities within which hotels are located, including the safety of women and girls, will always be our top priority, and we are working closely with partners across the country to discuss any concerns they have as we look to fix the system together.”
