ONLY politically bankrupt politicians will use the plight of asylum-seekers as a scapegoat for the crisis in housing and in public services. Only morally bankrupt politicians will attempt to demonise all migrants, the migrants they have encouraged to come here, as sexual predators, violent rapists and paedophiles.

Yet that is what is currently happening in our politics. There is a daily diet now of complaints about people arriving on small boats and how they are to be punished and deterred.

At the same time, the general climate of hostility to black and Asian people has morphed into an attempt to demonise huge numbers of migrants (none from mainly white countries) as beasts who prey on women and girls.

Far from opposing this vile nonsense, leading politicians now express their sympathy for those people making these outrageous claims. In recent weeks there have been a series of protests outside the accommodation holding asylum-seekers. One particular focus for these protesters is any male who might be among them, as they are the targets of the wildest claims and irrational hatred.

Yet, when Tory and Labour spokesperson were asked on BBC Radio 4 whether they supported or condemned the protests, there was no condemnation of them or their vile slogans.

One of those, Robert Jenrick is, incredibly, shadow secretary of state for justice and shadow lord chancellor. The role of the latter is to is to protect and uphold the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

Yet his sympathy for the protesters led him to promote bogus, unchallenged claims on the prevalence of foreigners among those charged with sexual crimes. The “statistics” are bogus on a number of fronts.

The first is that being charged is not the same as being convicted and a large proportion of charges do not end in conviction.

Secondly, to make the assertion that certain nationalities are more likely to be charged with sexual crimes on a relative basis, a comparison needs to be made of the number of young men (aged under 35) who are the ones mainly responsible for sexual crimes across all cultures. Jenrick did not even attempt to do that.

Thirdly, the data needs to be robust on fronts. But we know that black or Asian men are more likely to be charged than their white counterparts for the same offence.

The data collection is also patchy. And the attempt to extrapolate from tiny numbers is doomed to fail.

This is the same Robert Jenrick who also claims that the number of illegal immigrants is vastly understated, so presumably if they were counted in these calculations the proportions of sexual predators among migrant men would fall below the proportion among white, British-born predators.

The most reliable data available on crime in this country is from the Crime Surveys for England and Wales. The latest annual survey should be due out this month. The surveys are more reliable because they ask who has been a victim of a specific crime, so they are not distorted by the interventions of the police or courts.

The incidence of many crimes remains shockingly high. Yet there are some telling conclusions from the surveys.

In general, both total and violent crime have halved in the last decade. This is not the picture that Farage, or Trump, or any of the other divisive reactionaries wants to paint about lawless or “broken” Britain.

Within that, though there is a very troubling rise in the incidence of sexual assaults which include “flashing” and unwanted touching. These have effectively doubled since about 2014. At the same time, the incidence of survey-reported rape has remained more or less constant over the long-term, at 1 per cent of the population experiencing rape in any given year.

It seems improbable to me that the increased rate of sexual assault is simply due to better reporting in an anonymous survey, especially when the incidence of reported rape remains unchanged. It clearly needs proper investigation.

Yet none of this data speaks to the growing lawlessness and danger on our streets, driven by the influx of migrants, that many politicians and the worst parts of our media now portray. The data on rape do not fit with their lurid claims either.

What is absent is any political push-back against this demonisation of asylum-seekers and migrants in general. This is vitally necessary, not just for the victims of all the abuse and assaults, but for the entire labour movement.

A key point is that the anti-asylum protesters do not have legitimate grievances.

They may be extremely exploited at work, live in unfit housing or a loved one may be waiting years on a NHS waiting list. But their grievances are illegitimate precisely because their anger is directed towards asylum seekers or migrants. Their grievances are bogus, racist and illegitimate.

All sorts of morbid organisms can flourish in stagnant waters. The economy is stagnant, and the political climate is mainly bleak. Political parties and leaders who can offer no way out of the current crisis are much happier endlessly talking about immigration. It is the classic politics of distraction.

What we are being distracted from is a combination of policies to make us worse off and the world less safe.

A government which continues to support Israel’s genocide is determined to increase military spending to escalate war in Europe and wherever Tump’s next priority lies, no matter how far away.

All of this is being paid for by a multitude of cuts. Entirely predictably, the austerity imposed in the October Budget last year has further depressed the economy.

Because of austerity the £22 billion hole in government finances inherited from the Tories has now become a £40bn hole. This has severe implications for taxes, public services and public-sector pay, probably all three.

No wonder they only want to talk about immigration. An extra £35 billion can be found for US arms manufacturers. But nothing for pensioners, disabled people, poorer families or hungry school children.

Ordinary people, workers and the poor will be the ones who have to pay for this crisis. That is why it is in their interests, and the vital interests of the whole labour movement to oppose this racist offensive. Because it is not just a distraction, but it deflects people’s justified anger in a pointless, reactionary direction.

Asylum-seekers cannot restore benefits, or shorten NHS waiting lists, or increase public-sector pay. Government can.

But the more politicians are able to get away with demonising migrants in general, the less accountable they become for their own failings. It is in all our interests to oppose the rising racist tide.

Diane Abbott is MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and Mother of the House of Commons.