UK government signals climbdown on Islamophobia rule

The British government has been urged to be “bold and brave” in outlawing Islamophobia after it signalled that it would back down on the proposal.

With almost two out of five religious hate crimes committed against Muslims in Britain there has been growing demands from the community for the government to introduce an Islamophobia definition as official guidance.

But Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, indicated that Labour would back out of a new law, stating that people must retain the right to “criticise or even mock” religion.

A report on Islamophobia by former Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, ordered by the government, is expected to come out next week. But ahead of its publication Mr Reed appeared to signal a climbdown.

“When I’m looking at their proposal, paramount in my mind would be the need to protect free speech,” he said during a Politico fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. “That must come first. We won’t allow the introduction of blasphemy laws by the back door.”

Mr Reed added that people “should have the right to criticise or even mock religion, or even individual religions”.

Backdown is a blow

His remarks indicate a government backdown which will come as a blow to the UK’s four million Muslims who have seen an intensification of Islamophobic attacks, especially since the Israel-Gaza conflict began.

At an Islamophobia fringe event attended by The National, the panel lamented that despite the rising attacks on Muslims the issue had not been addressed by government.

“Islamophobia has never been combated by senior leaders, by people in Parliament saying, ‘no let’s be bold, let's be brave, if something is Islamophobic call it that,” said Tawhid Islam, chief executive of the Liverpool Muslim Council.

Migrant demonisation

Labour MP Sarah Owen, chairwoman of the women and equalities committee, told the meeting that increased Islamophobia had seen “the demonisation of migrants” and was having such a significant impact that it was now like “the bad old days on steroids”.

She also said that not “every institution is faith literate, and we need to be able to get to that point”.

Mr Reed’s own department’s website highlighted the inquiry stating that given the increasing anti-Muslim crime there was an “urgent need for a clear and robust framework to address this form of hatred”.

“The group’s work will support wider and ongoing government-led efforts to tackle religiously motivated hate crime,” it added.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, also speaking in Liverpool, argued that given the Jewish community was protected by a specific definition of anti-Semitism, this meant that “specific solutions for specific communities” could be the “right answer”.

However, the most senior Muslim in government also suggested that defining Islamophobia might also increase hatred, as it risked giving the community “special treatment”.

Hate crimes

Muslims constitute more than six per cent of the UK population but are victims of about 38 per cent of all religious hate crimes, said Shabna Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust.

In the year to the end of March 2024, the Home Office recorded 10,484 incidents of hate crimes based on religion – an increase of 25 per cent on the previous year. There were 3,866 recorded religious hate crimes targeting Muslims, up 13 per cent on the year before. There were 3,282 recorded religious hate crimes targeting Jews, more than double the previous year.

An Islamic organisation described how after it put up posters in Birmingham during the last Ramadan there were 1,500 racist incidents against Muslims in the area.

Ms Begum raised the issue of significant pay gaps with discrimination in employment and education for British Muslims that was “the most glaring and obvious outcome of structural racism”.

Her trust, which researches racism in Britain, has found that Muslim men earn 22 per cent less than white Christian men. “So, we know that there is a significant pay gap,” said Ms Begum.

“We know that Muslim women face the largest pay penalty among women and religious groups. Muslim women are facing all sorts of barriers in the workplace, having to conform, to fit in, to change their appearance,” she said

“What we need is that government takes responsibility for the [Islamophobia] definition, acting on that definition to advance and protect Muslims communities in the UK.”

Toxic narratives

The government also had to address the “legitimate grievances” of impoverished non-Muslim people who were being fed a “toxic narrative which then becomes Islamophobic” on social media, Mr Islam said.

“We need to have hard conversations and I feel that those hard conversations are not being had,” he added. “But one thing we have to also appreciate is that Islamophobia is racism, pure and simple.”

Mr Islam also argued that the Muslim business community had been held back by prejudice. “They are unable to access the same level of finance and build their businesses and they are being discriminated against," he said. "Sometimes they feel it's because of their name, sometimes because of the area that they live in."