Asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans To ask His Majesty's
Government, further to reports that religious hate crime has
increased, what steps they are taking to tackle religious hate
crime and strengthen community cohesion in the UK. The
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (Lord Khan of Burnley) (Lab) My
Lords, religious hatred is a stain on our society. Recent events,
such as the domestic impact of...Request free trial
Asked by
The Lord
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to reports that
religious hate crime has increased, what steps they are taking to
tackle religious hate crime and strengthen community cohesion in
the UK.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government ( of Burnley) (Lab)
My Lords, religious hatred is a stain on our society. Recent
events, such as the domestic impact of tensions in the Middle
East and the appalling violence we saw on our streets over the
summer, have exposed weaknesses and divisions in our society.
This Government are developing an integrated, cohesive approach
to tackling these challenges, which will address racial and
religious hatred and strengthen cohesion across all communities.
We will say more soon.
The Lord
I thank the Minister for his reply. Many of us are deeply
worried; post the 7 October attacks, the dramatic rise in
religious-motivated hate crime and the strain on social cohesion
have been deeply worrying. Of course, at the same time they have
spurred a whole range of grass-roots initiatives. I am thinking,
for example, of the work that our local MP in St Albans has
undertaken with local imams and rabbis, who have produced a
document—five reasons for dialogue; why Jews and Muslims refuse
to hate one another—which they are taking around our schools. It
is making quite an impact. I wonder whether the Minister and his
officials are aware of this and other initiatives and whether
they are being integrated into a national strategy so that we can
try to address this at the youngest age possible.
of Burnley (Lab)
I pay tribute to the right reverend Prelate and ask him to pass
on my appreciation for the work that has gone on in different
faiths to bring the community together in St Albans. I made
community visits on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to discuss
these issues, and tomorrow I will be in Cambridge visiting the
Woolf Institute to hear from Jewish, Muslim and Christian
community voices. These important initiatives are all part of a
package to make sure that our country rejects hate, has unity and
works together to deal with these challenges.
(CB)
My Lords, recent reports have shown that anti-Jewish hate crime
in London has risen fourfold and that anti-Semitic activity on
campus is absolutely shocking. Jewish students go in fear at what
is going on. The noble Lord, , has issued two excellent reports
on this, and his recommendations, which I call on the Government
to implement, are to teach contemporary anti-Semitism. Holocaust
education alone is not succeeding, because it places everything
in the past. Will the Government keep our students safe? I have
written on this to the noble Baroness, Lady of Malvern, three or four times since
August and have not received a reply. I hope that the Minister
will encourage her to reply to me and others on the painful
situation on our campuses.
of Burnley (Lab)
My Lords, I acknowledge the point the noble Baroness makes, in
particular on the rise of anti-Semitism in our country. We intend
to reverse the decision of the previous Government to downgrade
the monitoring and recording of anti-Semitic hate incidents. I
will pass the noble Baroness's views across, but I assure her
that I am meeting the noble Lord, , who is our independent adviser
on anti-Semitism, and I will continue to work with him closely to
tackle all forms of anti-Semitism, wherever they may be.
(Con)
My Lords, I know that as a child, growing up when there is a lot
of hatred about really impacts on how you grow up. We are seeing
every single day the rise of racial and religious hatred; it has
been perpetuated by adults, and it feeds back into children. We
need to know how we can work across parties to be able to make
sure that, as government and opposition, we are producing an
environment in which children can grow up safely, not watching
the hate that is constantly on the television, which comes from
adults who are magnifying the differences.
of Burnley (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Baroness makes an excellent and interesting
point. Today is my 45th birthday; I remember that the first time
I suffered racism and religious hatred was on my fourth birthday.
The noble Baroness is right: these things stay with you for a
long while. Wherever we can work in different departments and
different institutions, we have to ensure that we have an
integrated and cohesive approach that tackles the problems that,
unfortunately, too many people face.
(LD)
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right that all racial and
religious hatred is a stain on our society, but unfortunately it
is on the rise significantly. He will be aware that Islamophobia
and anti-Muslim hate crimes have also risen significantly. The
violent riots in the summer targeting British Muslims and
refugees did not happen in a vacuum. Our families and communities
feel worried and targeted, especially with the terrible rhetoric
that we hear from some leading politicians that would not be
tolerated if it were about other communities. In light of that,
what steps are being taken to change the policy of disengagement,
particularly with Muslim communities and organisations, and, as
the right reverend Prelate said, to enhance and bring back
interfaith work, particularly with women, young people and
broader communities?
of Burnley (Lab)
My Lords, on the unfortunate stats that the noble Baroness
raises, she is quite right. The Question today is about how there
is too much religious hatred. Out of all hate crimes, 25% are
religious hate crimes. I am working and engaging with all
communities, of all faiths, and she can rest assured that that
includes the Muslim faith. As I said before, I am visiting the
Woolf Institute tomorrow to hear from Jewish, Christian and
Muslim leaders in particular and to talk about how interfaith—to
go to the very premise of the Question—is playing a part to
alleviate hate crime and religious hatred in our country.
(CB)
My Lords, can the Minister advise us as to what the Department
for Education is doing in relation to advice to schools?
of Burnley (Lab)
I will just say to the noble and learned Baroness that it is for
the Department for Education to better advise her. I am sure that
she does not need any advice from me, knowing her experience in
this area.
(Lab)
My Lords, would the Minister be prepared to meet with Show Racism
the Red Card, the country's largest anti-racist education
charity? It has workers in schools every day, making sure that
our children are exposed to anti-racist ideas, all the better to
be able to confront the racism that we see in much of our press
and media and, regrettably, that we have seen on our streets.
of Burnley (Lab)
My noble friend makes an interesting point, but let me be quite
clear that we have a lot of plans moving forward. I hoped to talk
about having these plans in place, but we are at the very
difficult stage of finalising our plans. Rest assured that I will
come back to my noble friend and the House about some of the
challenges when we have our finalised integrated approach. The
steps we take will be able to alleviate a lot of the issues that
my noble friend raised.
(Con)
My Lords, in opposition the Labour Party adopted the APPG's
definition of Islamophobia. Have the Government now adopted that
definition and, if not, why not? If they are still considering
the matter, what are the specifics of that definition that need
clarification in order for the Government to make up their
mind?
of Burnley (Lab)
A new definition, which the Government will work towards, must be
given careful consideration so that it comprehensively reflects
multiple perspectives and considers the potential implications
for different communities. We understand the strength of feeling
on the issue of the APPG's definition, and we want to make sure
that any definition comprehensively reflects multiple
perspectives. We are actively considering our approach to
Islamophobia, including definitions, and will provide further
updates in due course.
(CB)
My Lords, the hate crime that captures the headlines often has a
political dimension where religions are involved, such as in the
Middle East. Although serious, it is transitory. More serious is
the hate crime of religion on religion, with claims of God-given
superiority. Does the Minister agree that open dialogue between
religions on the actual teachings—I do not mean just having tea
and samosas, which is the usual thing—would help identify
important commonalities that can strengthen cohesion in
society?
of Burnley (Lab)
Yes.
Baroness of Buckley (Non-Afl)
My Lords, can the Minister reassure us that concern about
religious hate should not lead to backdoor blasphemy laws or
assaults on free speech and legitimate criticism, or even
ridicule, of religion? Does the Minister agree that, three years
to the day after the brutal murder of Sir by an Islamist fanatic, it is
not helpful when some conflate concerns about Islamism with
religious hatred of Muslims? That stirs up tensions too.
of Burnley (Lab)
My Lords, as I said before, a new definition must be given
careful consideration so that it considers multiple perspectives
and the potential implications for different communities. We are
actively considering our approach to Islamophobia, and that
includes a definition. I pay tribute to the work of Sir . Religious hatred should not be
allowed to cause violence or damage, and the Government will work
to eradicate all forms of it. On the point raised by the noble
and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, I will speak to my
colleagues in the Department for Education to get more
clarification.
Recent Home Office statistics show that 71% of hate crimes were
Islamophobic or anti-Semitic: 38% of them constituted
Islamophobia, while 33% were anti-Semitism. We will look at
tackling all religious hatred, and we have to make sure we work
on our manifesto to improve monitoring and, I hope, help to
alleviate this scourge on our society.
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