Peterborough Mosque (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer is poised to appoint an “anti-Muslim hostility tsar” alongside the government's new definition of Islamophobia. The plans are due to be outlined on Monday as part of Labour's new cohesion strategy, despite concerns of the Prime Minister introducing “blasphemy laws”.
A document, leaked to the Spectator magazine, features a crackdown on extremism and names Islamists as the biggest threat to community cohesion. It also outlines fresh demands that new arrivals in Britain seek to integrate and speak good English
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Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Back in December, Sir Keir Starmer assured MPs there would be “no introduction or reintroduction of a blasphemy law, either by statute, by judicial overreach, or by a non-statutory definition of Islamophobia.”
But the document reveals there will be a crackdown.
It read: “Those who come here must make a genuine effort to integrate into and engage with our shared way of life.”
It also raises concerns about antisemitism, saying it was “being normalized in many corners of society, from our schools and universities to workplaces and the NHS.”
A source close to Housing Minister Steve Reed, whose department was integral to coordinating the document, declined to comment to The Spectator on the leaked paper, but implied it was not the final draft.
Shabana Mahmood (Image: Getty)
The report states clearly that Islamists are responsible for three-quarters of the police's counterterror workload and 94% of all terror-related deaths in the past 25 years.
The plan also rejects calls, predominantly from British Muslims, for blasphemy laws in the UK.
Following the case of the religious studies teacher at Batley Grammar school, who was forced into hiding after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, the document promises to “stand against those who try to intimidate, threaten and harass others because they are offended by so-called 'blasphemy'. We do not recognize blasphemy law in the UK.”
Further powers will be established to close extremist charities and suspend trustees with “unspent hate crime convictions”, to “strengthen monitoring” of non-violent extremism in universities and to exclude hate preachers from the UK.
As part of this, there will be rules to ensure that “public bodies do not confer legitimacy, funding or influence on extremist groups”.
Andrew Gilligan, a senior fellow at Policy Exchange and a former No. 10 adviser, told the magazine: “There are clear risks to free speech.
“But there are also several worthwhile commitments, if they ever happen.
“The risk is that the bad things happen, and the good ones don't. The other risk is that the new strategy is implemented by the same old identity-politics activists, woolly-minded councilors and 40-watt policemen who have made the current mess.”