Almost every woman attempting to cross the Channel to the UK in a small boat from northern France is raped during the journey, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has claimed.

Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast, Mahmood said asylum seekers were vulnerable to sexual abuse while criminal traffickers remained in control of who was able to make the crossing.

“We’re not in control of this border,” she said. “The people who decide which individuals gathered in northern France are allowed to board a dinghy are criminal gangs who are also, of course, people traffickers.”

“You can almost guarantee that every woman in northern France has probably been raped at some point on the journey,” Mahmood added.

She said some men had also been abused or threatened, arguing that criminal gangs should not determine who reaches the UK, seeks sanctuary and eventually becomes part of British society.

The comments came after around 300 anti-migrant protesters clashed with police on Sunday, following the arrival of dozens of migrants at a historic naval port. The group had reportedly used a new route to avoid detection.

Flares were released during the confrontation at a marina in Gosport, where the stand-off continued into the early hours of Monday.

The Home Office said 149 migrants had been brought ashore after being rescued in the middle of the Channel by the RNLI and a French coastguard vessel.

They were then taken by coach to a processing facility in Kent.

Protesters assembled near Haslar Marina in Gosport after migrants were seen arriving at about 10.15pm. They had been brought in aboard two RNLI boats late on Sunday.

Some demonstrators shouted “send them back” and “you’re not welcome”.

The arrival was the second known landing of a large migrant group this far west along England’s south coast in recent years.

During the podcast discussion with former Conservative minister Rory Stewart and former Tony Blair adviser Alastair Campbell, Mahmood also condemned balaclava-wearing protesters who have blockaded ports while claiming to support her policies. She told them to “sod off”.

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“They’re just troublemakers,” she said. “They’d kill me in a minute if they could, and they’d certainly drive me out of my own country.”

Mahmood continued: “Let’s be absolutely clear about who they are and what they represent. They don’t regard me as a true Brit, and they hate the fact that I’m Muslim.” 

The home secretary also said she identified with the “pro-Palestine cause” and felt “very uncomfortable” about the arrests of activists who opposed the government’s ban on Palestine Action.

More than 82 people were arrested by Merseyside Police outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool last Monday. They were held on suspicion of wearing or carrying items expressing support for a proscribed organisation.

The arrests followed a demonstration organised by Defend Our Juries, during which scores of people sat outside the conference centre. Several held handmade signs declaring their support for the banned group Palestine Action.

A Merseyside Police spokesperson said the force respected the right to protest lawfully, while working to preserve order and protect public safety.

The force said it made ‘detailed and co-ordinated plans ahead of such events to ensure it can apply this consistently, fairly and proportionately’.

The spokesperson said not everyone present at the demonstration had been committing a criminal offence.

Mahmood said: ‘For those of us who have been in the pro-Palestinian cause all of our lives, these are people – sometimes you’ll know who they are, you know, you’ve been on the marches with them – it feels very uncomfortable to see them falling foul of section 13 of the Terrorism Act.’

However, she defended enforcing the ban on the group, regardless of her own views: ‘You’ve got to be able to apply your principles, even when it’s uncomfortable for you, because you’re going to really want to apply them when it’s something you, you know, with your whole heart, are feeling very passionately about.’

Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early general election after his government suffered a damaging parliamentary defeat over emergency measures aimed at tackling the country’s housing crisis.

The election will take place on November 29. Pressure on the government has intensified in recent weeks as Spaniards demand action on housing affordability, with protests breaking out in cities nationwide after public anger over the televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid last month.

Right-wing opposition parties joined forces in Parliament to defeat two emergency decrees containing measures designed to curb evictions and real estate speculation. The setback fueled speculation that Sánchez might bring forward the national election, which had been expected next year.

Announcing the election, Sánchez asked voters to decide whether Spain should “regress or keep moving forward.”

He described the opposition parties that rejected housing reforms—including restrictions on evicting vulnerable tenants and automatic tenancy renewals—as a “far-right coalition that offers no proposals.”

Spain’s main opposition party, the People’s Party, welcomed the snap election announcement, posting a video with the caption: “At last.”

Sánchez, 54, has served as Spain’s prime minister since 2018, making him one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders.

Last month, the country was outraged by the treatment of 87-year-old pensioner Maricarmen Abascal, who was removed from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a dispute over a proposed 275 per cent rent increase.

Footage filmed inside the apartment showed riot police breaking through a barricade made of chairs, shelves and a lamp as supporters attempted to prevent the court-ordered eviction.

Ms Abascal’s father first rented the apartment in Retiro, an upmarket area of central Madrid, in 1956. She continued living there after her parents died, paying rent capped under an old tenancy agreement.

Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión SL, an investment company run by brothers Ricardo Alonso Fernández and Fernando Alonso Fuentes, bought the property in 2018.

Ms Abascal had been paying about €440 (£379) a month, but the company later proposed raising the rent to €1,650 (£1,420)—an increase of 275 per cent, according to Spanish reports. Her monthly pension is €1,350.

Courts had previously blocked three attempts to evict her.

The Bank of Spain estimates that the country faces a shortage of 700,000 homes.

Her eviction triggered mass protests across Spain.

Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid over the weekend, protesting her removal and demanding stronger tenant protections as the country grapples with a housing shortage and soaring rents.

Protesters held signs calling for a general strike after Parliament rejected measures on Friday that had been drafted in response to anger over the eviction, as well as wider housing concerns.

Video from a protest in Valencia showed demonstrators charging at riot police with fences, while officers used batons to strike protesters.

Protesters also shouted insults at officers as they broke through a police barricade.

Sanchez has stood out globally for taking a strong stance on progressive issues from Palestinian statehood to defending multilateral institutions and cracking down on ‘tech oligarchs’, even as a series of setbacks and scandals weakened his position at home.

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Facing the electorate now is a risky move as Sanchez’s Socialist Party is trailing in opinion polls. However, he has been boosted by proposals to tackle a mounting housing crisis that were well received but were struck down by right-wing MPs on Friday, leading to planned new public protests about housing.

An election defeat would spell the end of one of Europe’s last few left-leaning governments at a time when the far-right is making unprecedented gains across the region as a growing swathe of European voters desert the centre ground.

Opinion polls suggest a coalition led by the conservative People’s Party (PP) with the support of Vox is the most likely outcome in Spain, ushering a far-right party into central government for the first time since the return of democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

Still, Sanchez, a wily political operator, has proven time and again his ability to surprise those who had long written him off.

Despite never winning enough votes to form a majority government, he has cobbled together a series of fragile and seemingly impossible coalitions including voices from the far-left to the separatist right to remain in power for three successive terms lasting eight years.

But growing fragmentation among his partners has meant the government has passed little in the way of legislation in its third term and failed to pass a budget since 2023, even as Spain’s economy has continued to be one of the best performing in the developed world. 

Sanchez took office after leading a move to oust centre-right Mariano Rajoy in the wake of major corruption scandals within Rajoy’s People’s Party. 

However, senior members of Sanchez’s own Socialist Party have in the past year faced allegations of graft, dragging down the party’s already weak approval rating which has hovered at around 26-31% throughout his tenure.

Against the odds, he won a second four-year term in office in 2023 despite heavy losses in earlier regional and local elections by negotiating support from a loose alliance of parties in parliament.

That was achieved after promising a highly controversial amnesty for pro-independence Catalan leaders in exchange for their support, a move still bitterly remembered by many voters as a betrayal of Spanish unity.

Sanchez won early plaudits for moves including the exhumation of Franco from a mausoleum the dictator built for himself outside Madrid, and the reform of a labour law that has seen unemployment fall to its lowest level in almost two decades.

He cemented his humanitarian and pro-immigration credentials early by saying in June 2018 that Spain would accept the Aquarius migrant rescue ship and its 629 passengers, after Italy and Malta both refused to let the ship dock in their harbours.

As other European countries have toughened their policies towards foreign arrivals, Sanchez has consistently argued that immigration is essential for sustaining Spanish growth by plugging gaps in key sectors such as construction, agriculture and hospitality and for providing revenue to prop up Spain’s strained welfare system.

More recently, his refusal to agree to US-led demands to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP while pivoting toward China has rattled US President Trump and some European leaders concerned about the threat of the bloc being flooded with Chinese goods.

Sanchez’s housing measures provided a rare chance for the Socialist leader to pitch himself as the leader of a mobilised left and distract from the more politically damaging issues of the migrant crisis in Ceuta and corruption scandals, said Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quiros, economist and president of consultancy Freemarket Corporate Intelligence.

‘This is a window of opportunity,’ de Quiros said. ‘If he does not call elections fast, (those topics) will return to centre stage.’

More to follow.  

Protesters clashed with police after dozens of migrants arrived at a historic naval port by small boat, reportedly using a “new route” to avoid detection.

A large dinghy was spotted travelling towards Britain from waters near Utah Beach in Normandy on Sunday morning.

The dinghy was reportedly monitored by French coastguard and rescue vessels during its journey to the UK.

The Home Office said 149 migrants were believed to have been on board. They were due to be taken to Kent for processing.

About 300 protesters gathered near Haslar Marina in Gosport, where migrants began arriving at around 10.15pm after being transported aboard two RNLI boats late on Sunday evening.

Flares were set off as demonstrators shouted “send them back” and “you’re not welcome”, with scuffles breaking out between protesters and police.

Toby, a 26-year-old chef who lives nearby, said he had joined the protest after seeing it mentioned on Twitter.

“I hadn’t been to the last ones. There are a lot of people who take it too far, but how can you trust the police when they’re doing this?”

“They’re hiding the entire process from us because they know it’s wrong. You see all these people in France and they’ve just been let in.”

“We’ve seen what they’re capable of. It’s affecting the whole country, but Gosport is getting the worst of it,” he said.

A fight appeared to break out amid the disorder, while police officers stood ready with pepper spray in their hands.

One protester carrying a megaphone shouted at police: “You’ve enabled this now… Well done, officers, well done. You’ve proved it’s possible to land in Gosport.

“Now look what we’re going to have to deal with because of you.”

‘You just cemented the destruction of Gosport.’

Another young man claimed police should be ‘ashamed of yourselves’.

Dave, a construction worker who lives in the area, had been shouting for the crowd to join him in pushing back police.

He said: ‘If we all did it, they wouldn’t be able to stop us. If it’s just me I’ll get nicked.

‘I’ve worked all my life, paid all this tax, for it to go to people who have never lived or worked here.

‘I’ve built houses that go straight to people that never worked. They are houses I couldn’t have.’

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Another man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘If we were calm they would nick us. We have to be aggressive for our own protection.’

Officers placed nails on the road to prevent protesters from driving to the barricade after one car appeared to drive towards police at a slow speed. 

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it had deployed officers to Gosport to ‘support our partners in the event of an emergency at sea’.

Ambulances and coaches were spotted in the area.

The force imposed conditions under the Public Order Act alongside powers prohibiting the wearing of face coverings.

A Government spokesman said: ‘The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border. We have established contingency plans to make sure we can securely disembark, check and process all small boat arrivals.

‘Migrants will be transported to short term holding facilities in Kent where they will be processed as normal and undergo stringent health, security and biometric checks.’

Leader of Reform UK in Hampshire, George Madgwick, said: ‘I can not believe the British Government have allowed a boat of illegal migrants to dock in the Home of the Royal Navy here in Portsmouth Harbour, Gosport.

‘This makes me feel physically sick. They wonder why local people are angry.’

Twenty five minutes on from the arrival a Brittany Ferries cruise ship, the Galicia, sailed past Gosport using the same waters on its way to Spain. 

The latest crossing comes just days after a similar operation caused tension in Gosport when hundreds of protesters gathered over reports that a migrant boat was due to arrive there.

That dinghy, which had travelled from Normandy, eventually arrived in Dover after spending more than 30 hours at sea.

The 51 people on board had reportedly refused assistance from the French coastguard before British rescue vessels intervened.

The incident sparked a major police operation in Gosport, with six people arrested as officers dealt with protesters.

Three people were subsequently charged over offences including assaults on emergency workers.

Departures from further west along the French coast have been relatively unusual in recent years, but there have now been three such crossings in the space of a month.

The longer journeys mean boats can spend many hours at sea before reaching British waters, while their eventual landing point can be difficult to predict.

The Government has stressed that Border Security Command monitors the Channel around the clock and that those arriving by small boat are subject to checks and processing.

A Government spokesman said: ‘The Border Security Command works around the clock to monitor the Channel and protect our border. It is vital we continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.’

Official figures show the number of small boat arrivals remains significantly lower than at the same point last year, despite continued crossings.

The Home Office recorded 526 arrivals on September 27 and a further 61 on September 29, with no arrivals recorded on several other days in the final week of September.

The provisional total for Channel crossings this year is 19,451, according to figures cited by officials, down 43 per cent on this point last year and 23 per cent below the figure at the same stage in 2024.

The latest Border Security Command annual report said small boat crossings had begun to fall but remained a ‘persistent and adaptive threat’, warning that organised crime groups could change their tactics and seek to increase journeys when conditions were favourable.

The Government has also been working with France to prevent departures, with French authorities reporting hundreds of small boat crossing attempts stopped under the latest UK-France arrangements.

Neighbours at a luxury holiday villa costing $3,000 a night have described the tense scene after emergency services were called to the Noosa property where Sam Wood allegedly committed domestic violence offences.

The alleged incident took place at La Mer, an upmarket beachfront complex on Noosa’s sought-after Hastings Street, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Wood, a multi-millionaire businessman and former star of The Bachelor, was reportedly staying at the property with his wife, Snezana, and their three children, Willow, 8, Charlie, 7, and Harper, 4.

Snezana’s 21-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Eve, was also staying with the family.

Guests at neighbouring apartments, who asked not to be identified, said they realised something was wrong when police officers and paramedics arrived at the complex on Saturday night.

One guest said she had not heard any commotion before the emergency response, but saw a woman open the door for paramedics at the Woods’ apartment, which reportedly costs more than $3,000 a night.

The woman was later taken from the property by paramedics.

The guest also said she saw Wood being questioned by police at about 9pm. He was later arrested and taken to the Maroochydore watchhouse.

“Police have charged a 46-year-old Victorian man with domestic violence offences early this morning, 4 October,” a police spokesperson said.

“The man has been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence) and strangulation in a domestic setting.”

Two other witnesses told the Daily Mail they saw police and an ambulance outside La Mer “after dinner in the late evening”.

A male guest said he had seen the Woods at the apartment during their stay, but did not observe any arguments or altercations.

Another female guest said Wood’s youngest child had sleepwalked and left the room during the family’s stay.

She said the family later packed their belongings and left the apartment that night, after Wood had been taken away by police.

The Daily Mail can also reveal that Wood did not appear at Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday morning because of mental health concerns.

The matter was instead handled by his lawyer, Mathew Cuskelly.

Mr Cuskelly asked for the case to be relisted on Thursday, when Wood is expected to apply for bail.

The celebrity fitness trainer will remain in the local watchhouse until at least Thursday, when the case is due to return to court.

Mr Cuskelly said Wood intends to defend the charges and that he would speak to him again later today after visiting him in the watchhouse on Sunday night.

He said Wood was in good spirits but concerned for his family and eager to return to Victoria.

As Wood remains behind bars until at least Thursday, Snezana’s close friend, hair and makeup artist Tahlia Jayde, was also seen visiting the Brighton property.

Her visit came after Wood and Snezana, who met on The Bachelor in 2015, publicly addressed the allegations together on Monday morning.

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‘This is a difficult time for all of us, we are working through this as a family and are thoroughly co-operating with the authorities,’ they said, sharing the statement on both of their Instagram accounts.

Wood’s social media follower count has also fallen dramatically, dropping by thousands amid the allegations.

The multimillion-dollar wellness businesses fronted by Wood have also responded to the allegations and stood him down from his roles.

Wood founded fitness and training business 28 by Sam Wood, which he sold to DBG Health for $71million in 2022 while remaining the face of the online platform under its new owner.

‘DBG Health, the parent company of 28 by Sam Wood, has zero tolerance for domestic violence,’ a DBG Health spokesperson said.

‘While the matter is under investigation and before the court, Sam Wood is on indefinite leave from his duties. Our thoughts are with the family and anyone in the community affected by domestic violence.

‘Mark Watkins, 28 Group’s Chief Operating Officer, will be leading the business in Sam Wood’s absence.’

The move also affects Wood’s role with Ollo For Women, a medical weight-loss business also owned by DBG Health.

Wood was announced as the face of the newly launched platform just four months ago, promoting its medical weight-loss, nutrition and telehealth services.

The business is aimed at women aged 40 and over, with Wood appearing prominently across its promotional campaigns.

He remains the owner of The Woodshed gym in Melbourne.

The arrest happened on the same weekend that Wood announced a social media ‘comeback’.

‘The comeback is personal. It’s an apology to myself,’ the post, shared on Instagram on Sunday, read.

Wood added in the accompanying caption: ‘I see transformations every day and everyone’s driving ‘why’ is different.

‘You don’t want to beat yourself up about what is in the past, but you can definitely gain strength and motivation for the future.’

With the reality TV personality behind bars, it is likely the post was pre-scheduled to be shared on Sunday.

The fitness entrepreneur married Snezana in an outdoor ceremony in Byron Bay in 2018.

The celebrity trainer funnelled his Bachelor fame into building his highly successful fitness empire.

Wood came under scrutiny in November 2025 after it emerged the Australian Taxation Office was pursuing him for more than $7 million in unpaid taxes.

The tax office’s Deputy Commissioner launched civil proceedings against Wood in October, seeking allegedly unpaid amounts relating to three consecutive financial years ending June 30, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

A recent court update shows the dispute was resolved by agreement, with the case dismissed without adjudication in September.