Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is planning to create a 16-person Islamophobia council to help draw up new rules on anti-Muslim discrimination.
The Government is calling for a new official definition of Islamophobia in line with the Labour Party’s adopted understanding of the prejudice as “a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.
The definition, which was based on a report from an all-party parliamentary group in 2018, has been criticised by free speech campaigners for discouraging fair criticism of Islamic religion.
Ms Rayner is planning create a new authority led by ex-Tory attorney general Dominic Grieves, who co-chaired the Citizens’ UK Commission on Islam and wrote the foreword to the 2018 report to advise on a new definition and help ministers to tackle Islamophobia, sources told The Telegraph.
Among shortlisted candidates for the council is Imam Qari Asim, a former Government advisor who was removed from post by the Conservatives after calling for a ban of a film depicting Prophet Mohammed’s daughter.
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities called the protests against The Lady of Heaven “a campaign to limit free expression” and “encourage communal tensions”.
However, oppositionary politicians have warned that adopting the definition would risk expressing “an Orwellian disregard for freedom of speech” in 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 against Brexit, was stripped of the Conservative whip by Boris Johnson in 2019 after rebelling on the deal’s legislation. He lost his seat after standing as an independent in that year’s general election.
In a foreword to the all-party report, the former 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 told 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 also hit out at 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 national inquiry into grooming gangs in favour of locally-led reviews and a focus on implementing the findings of a 2022 report compiled by British academic Professor Alexis Jay.
The deputy PM is also reportedly planning to create a council on anti-Semitism.
Before stepping down from her role as secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain last month, Zara Mohammed warned of a “deeply challenging” global climate 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 told 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 said: “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.”