Nigel Farage has sparked a furious row after he claimed “convicted sex offenders” are among the Afghans secretly airlifted into the UK.

Reform UK’s leader alleged that the rescue of almost 20,000 Afghans is a risk to women’s safety.

Thousands were secretly airlifted to the UK from the war-torn country when a list of names – among them people who had heroically served with British forces in the 20-year conflict – was leaked in an MoD blunder, potentially putting lives in danger.

And Mr Farage’s comments about those brought over to the UK have triggered a row with Labour and the Tories.

In a video posted on X, Mr Farage said: “Amongst the number that have come are convicted sex offenders – I am not, I promise you, making any of this up, and the total cost of this operation has been a staggering £7bn.

“The numbers are off the charts, the cost is beyond comprehension and the threat to women walking the streets of this country, frankly, is incalculable.

“I can’t think of a better example of the total incompetence, dishonesty and genuine lack of understanding of what the priorities of a British government are than this Afghan scandal.”

But Defence Secretary John Healey denied any known sex offenders had been allowed into the UK under the route.

He insisted everyone who had come in had been checked “carefully” for any criminal records.

And he said if Mr Farage had any “hard evidence” he should report it to police.

The Cabinet minister told Times Radio: “Anyone who has come into this country under any of the government schemes that was under the previous government and now from Afghanistan is checked carefully for security, checked carefully for any of those sort of criminal records that would preclude and prevent them coming to this country.”

Tory shadow Chancellor Mel Stride agreed and said it was incumbent on Mr Farage to provide evidence to his claims.

On Tuesday it was revealed thousands of Afghans had secretly been relocated to the UK after a huge £7bn email blunder.

A Royal Marine accidentally sent an email containing details of Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban to the wrong people.

The list included names of their individual UK sponsors including SAS and MI6 spies and at least one Royal Marine Major General.

The Ministry of Defence blunder was kept Top Secret for almost three years by a legal super injunction.

Details only came to light on Tuesday after a High Court judge ruled the gagging order should be lifted.

Tory former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace insisted there was “not a cover-up”.

Sir Ben said if the leak had been revealed it would have “put in peril those we needed to help out”.

“I make no apology for applying to the court for an injunction at the time,” he wrote in The Telegraph.

“It was not, as some are childishly trying to claim, a cover-up.

“Imagine if the Taliban had been alerted to the existence of this list. I would dread to think what would have happened.”

Sir Ben said he applied for a four-month injunction and did not know why it was converted into a super-injunction in September 2023, when Sir Grant Shapps had taken over as defence secretary.

His successor, Mr Shapps, has so far remained silent on the scandal.

Separately, the mass arrivals of Afghans has been linked to last summer’s riots in Britain.

A briefing paper circulated to Cabinet ministers two months after the disorder in 2024 revealed that the locations were largely in places where there had been a high number of Afghan arrivals.