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Asylum seekers have been warned in an official government guidebook not to rape or beat women.

The Home Office publication setting out the ‘rules and expectations’ of living in Britain will be handed to asylum seekers as part of an education campaign.

It warns: ‘If you have sex with someone without their consent, this is called rape.

‘Rape is a serious crime in the UK.’

The seven-page booklet, published on Wednesday in the wake of a series of horrific rapes and sex attacks by asylum seekers, also warns new arrivals not to ‘follow someone or block their path’, or ‘make rude or offensive gestures’.

Asylum seekers are told never to ‘make sexual comments to someone, even if you think it is a compliment’ or ‘whistle or make kissing noises at someone’.

It sets out that it is illegal to have sex with someone under the age of 16, adding: ‘There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if they say yes, it is still illegal.’

The pamphlet, entitled ‘Understanding behaviours and expectations in the UK: A guide for asylum seekers’, is expected to be made available in a range of foreign languages.

A page from the Home Office's new guidebook for asylum seekers

It also outlines how physical violence, threats and controlling behaviour are forms of domestic abuse and amount to a serious crime.

It says: ‘We understand that coming to a new country can be difficult, and that laws and customs here may be different from your home country.

‘This booklet will help you understand what is expected of you when living in the UK.’

The Home Office publication offers advice on gender equality

It also sets out the law on sexual consent, and makes clear the age of consent is 16 in the UK

It adds: ‘These rules and expectations are not just for people seeking asylum, they apply to everyone living here.’

The booklet goes on to explain that men and women in the UK have equal rights and that women are allowed to ‘work and earn their own money’, study, travel freely, and ‘make their own decisions about their lives’, including whether to marry.

It adds that a husband, father or brother should never stop a woman from working or studying; control what she wears or where she goes; stop her seeing family or friends; or make decisions for her without her agreement.

Another page of the document sets out advice on how to avoid harassing people

The document also warns that it is a crime to take sexual images of someone without their consent.

It contains advice and helpline numbers for anyone who has suffered sexual or other abuse.

A separate document, ‘Keeping children safe in the UK’, sets out that ‘babies and toddlers must never be left alone’.

Children should not be ‘hit, smacked, shaken or hurt’ and that ‘not giving a child enough food, clean clothes, healthcare, or a safe place to live’ amounts to neglect.

Last year there were 41,472 arrivals by small boat – most of whom went on to claim asylum – and of those 34,201 were male.

The largest nationalities among Channel migrant arrivals last year were Eritreans with just over 7,600, Afghans (4,800), Iranians (4,400), Sudanese (4,400) and Somalis (3,800).

There were a record 230 arrivals aboard a single dinghy last week.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Illegal and legal immigrants are coming from places and societies where attitudes towards women are completely incompatible with Western society.

‘Too many are failing to integrate, leaving frankly backwards standards to prevail.

‘It seems like every day there is another report of an illegal immigrant raping or assaulting women and young girls here.

‘Instead of trying to train these mainly young, male illegal immigrants to behave in a civilised way towards women, the Home Office should instead deport them.’

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said of the pamphlet: ‘This is one of the most insane things I have ever seen.

'I genuinely cannot believe what I have just read.

‘There's endless propaganda from the Government that these men [who] have turned up on our beaches illegally over the last eight years … don't pose any meaningful threat to British women and girls.

‘We know that that is not true. When Nigel Farage and other Reform figures have pointed out the threat that they pose to British women and girls, they are howled and shouted at by the political establishment.

‘Well, this disgrace shows you exactly what the Government knows.

‘They know that they are a menace, and they are living in taxpayer-funded hotels.

‘They all need to be detained. They need to be deported.’