Angela Rayner creates Islamophobia council amid ‘Orwellian’ free speech fears | Politics | News | EUROtoday
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is planning to create a 16-person Islamophobia council to assist draw up new guidelines on anti-Muslim discrimination.
The Government is looking for a brand new official definition of Islamophobia in keeping with the Labour Party’s adopted understanding of the unfairness as “a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.
The definition, which was based mostly on a report from an all-party parliamentary group in 2018, has been criticised by free speech campaigners for discouraging truthful criticism of Islamic faith.
Ms Rayner is planning create a brand new authority led by ex-Tory lawyer common Dominic Grieves, who co-chaired the Citizens’ UK Commission on Islam and wrote the foreword to the 2018 report back to advise on a brand new definition and assist ministers to sort out Islamophobia, sources advised The Telegraph.
Among shortlisted candidates for the council is Imam Qari Asim, a former Government advisor who was faraway from submit by the Conservatives after calling for a ban of a movie depicting Prophet Mohammed’s daughter.
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities referred to as the protests towards The Lady of Heaven “a campaign to limit free expression” and “encourage communal tensions”.
However, oppositionary politicians have warned that adopting the definition would danger expressing “an Orwellian disregard for freedom of speech” within the UK.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick added: “The Government should drop its plans for such a deeply flawed definition of Islamphobia. Of course we should tackle anti-Muslim hate wherever it occurs, but this definition is a Trojan horse for a blasphemy law protecting Islam.”
Mr Grieve, who was a stringent campaigner towards Brexit, was stripped of the Conservative whip by Boris Johnson in 2019 after rebelling on the deal’s laws. He misplaced his seat after standing as an impartial in that 12 months’s common election.
In a foreword to the all-party report, the previous MP described its findings and definition as “an important contribution to the debate as to how Islamophobia can best be addressed”.
“If I can be of assistance in doing something constructive requested by any government on a non-party political basis, I am willing to consider it,” Mr Grieve advised The Telegraph.
“It was apparent at the time that defining Islamophobia is extremely difficult for perfectly valid reasons relating to freedom of expression, [however,] perfectly law-abiding Muslims going about their business and well-integrated into society are suffering discrimination and abuse.”
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss additionally hit out on the proposal, dubbing it “yet another attempt by the Government to suppress free speech rather than bring those who covered up the rape gangs to justice”.
The Government has rejected plans for a nationwide inquiry into grooming gangs in favour of locally-led evaluations and a give attention to implementing the findings of a 2022 report compiled by British tutorial Professor Alexis Jay.
The deputy PM can be reportedly planning to create a council on anti-Semitism.
Before stepping down from her position as secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain final month, Zara Mohammed warned of a “deeply challenging” international local weather for Muslims, pointing to “hostile and disgusting vitriol” on Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
“Using child grooming to politicise and… make one community look really barbaric [has made us] really worried,” she advised the PA News Agency.
“On one hand we’re making great progress, we’re more integrated, you know, but at the same time we’re being treated as a security and immigration issue. I think the politics and the national narrative of belonging is really in a bad juxtaposition.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government stated: “All forms of religious and racial hatred have absolutely no place in our society. The Government engages regularly with faith communities to help foster strong working relationships and we are actively exploring a more integrated and cohesive approach to tackling racial and religious hatred, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Further details of this work will be set out shortly.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2009496/angela-rayner-islamophobia-orwellian-free-speech