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Ylva Johansson told the BBC last week the number of rapes in Sweden were “going down, and going down, and going down”. Her remarks came after former Ukip leader Nigel Farage claimed in February the city of Malmo was the “rape capital of Europe due to EU migrant policies”. However, days later official figures revealed there had been a 12 per cent dip in 2015, but the number of sex attacks had soared by 13 per cent in 2016.

Getty Ylva Johansson was forced to admit sex attacks have increased in Sweden

The preliminary figures for 2016 unfortunately show that the figures are on the rise. It’s important to be correct, of course. Ylva Johansson

Ms Johansson has now been forced to acknowledge her mistake to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. She said: “I based my answer on information that I had at the time, that the number of reports of rapes went down in 2015. "It was wrong of me to speak of a development that was only based on one year. “The preliminary figures for 2016 unfortunately show that the figures are on the rise. It’s important to be correct, of course.”

Getty Sweden has been known for its liberal stance towards migrants

Fellow MPs heavily criticised the Social Democratic Party minister, with Elisabeth Svantesson, the Moderate party’s labour policy spokeswoman, tweeting: “We don’t need more fake news. “In what way is the number of sex crimes decreasing?”

Her embarrassing U-turn came after she was asked about the impact of giving 150,000 refugees Swedish residency last year. She said: “We have been an immigration country for twenty years - in the same time, the crime level has gone down. So we can’t really see that connection.”

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When asked about sex attacks and Mr Farage’s comments, she added: “When we make surveys about if any woman has been... if there has been a rape towards her or sexual harassment, we can see that the level is going down, and going down and going down.” Last year, Ms Johansson defended her fellow Swedes after an outcry against the record-number of asylum seekers.

Getty Ms Johansson was reacting to Nigel Farage's comments about Malmo