UK Opposition wants PM Keir Starmer to scrap plans for Islamophobia definition

London: Britain’s Opposition Conservative Party is leading calls for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to scrap government plans for an official definition of Islamophobia over fears it would restrict free speech and action against wrongdoing.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said this weekend that a "false label" of Islamophobia had hampered investigations into the child abuse grooming gang scandal involving men of Pakistani heritage.

It comes as The Daily Telegraph claims that the Labour Party government is considering a formal definition of anti-Muslim discrimination.

“The government should drop its plans for such a deeply flawed definition of Islamophobia,” Jenrick told the newspaper.

“Throughout the grooming gang scandal the false label of Islamophobia was used to silence people. It appears that the government has learnt nothing and is determined to press ahead with a definition that will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech,” he said.

In a social media post, the Tory MP elaborated that “for decades the most appalling crimes from predominantly British-Pakistani men were legalised and actively covered up to prevent disorder”.

“The rule of law was abandoned to sustain the myth that diversity is our strength, destroying the lives of thousands of vulnerable white working class girls in the process,” he noted.

The shadow minister blamed the “onset of mass migration” for the scandal, brought back into focus by Tesla chief Elon Musk posting severely critical remarks on his X platform over the British government's handling of young girls’ sexual exploitation across a number of towns and cities in England more than a decade ago.

“The foreign nationals responsible must be deported – no ifs, no buts. And the officials that covered up must be sent to jail for their appalling cowardice. Even that won’t be enough for the victims,” added Jenrick.

His intervention comes as sources in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), led by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, were referenced by The Daily Telegraph to claim that officials were considering whether to introduce a formal definition of Islamophobia.

Such a definition, though not legally binding, would require organisations to adopt it.

Back in 2018, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims had defined Islamophobia as a “type of racism” that targets expressions of Muslimness.

Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell Mama, which stands for Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks, is among those who is warning against the APPG definition.

He is quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying: “Bad behaviour wherever it is, in whichever religious group, needs to be called out. This does not mean that all Muslim or all Pakistani men are bad. But when there is a concentration of issues within a certain group, we must hold the line in defence of our core values.

“There is a real danger that if they get the definition wrong, it will become the Achilles heel of Labour.”

Last year, the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) wrote to Rayner to caution against the government incorporating into law this “flawed” unofficial definition of Islamophobia as it would jeopardise the factual discussion of the history of the Indian subcontinent and persecution of religious minorities around the world.

The NSO letter said: “Adoption of this contested definition into law would have serious implications on free speech, not least the ability to discuss historical truths... targeting criminality with a flawed definition of ‘Islamophobia’, would be counterproductive and there is no evidence it would reduce anti-Muslim hatred in any case.”

Faith Minister Lord Wajid Khan had replied to acknowledge that “the definition proposed by the APPG is not in line with the Equality Act 2010, which defines race in terms of colour, nationality and national or ethnic origins”.

At the time in September 2024, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Faith, Communities and Resettlement in the MHCLG also admitted that defining Islamophobia is a “complex issue” and something ministers are approaching in a “more holistic” way.

“We want to ensure that any definition comprehensively reflects multiple perspectives and implications for different communities. This government is actively considering our approach to tackling Islamophobia through a more holistic lens, and will provide further information on this in due course,” he said.