(Caithness, Sutherland and
Easter Ross) (LD)
5. What steps she plans to take with the Secretary of State for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to tackle Islamophobia in
sport.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture,
Media and Sport ()
I am sure the whole House has been appalled by recent reports of
racism in cricket, a sad reminder that racial discrimination
still exists within sport. There can be no place for it. Sports
bodies must take robust action to tackle this behaviour. The
Government and our sports councils are committed to ensuring that
sport is inclusive for everyone, and will be watching; where
action does not go far enough, the Government are prepared to
step in.
It seems to me that we have an opportunity here to tackle hate
crimes by raising them to the status of aggravated offences.
Clearly, training and resources would have to follow that
decision, but, while we can all say the right things and be quite
correct in what we say about absolutely opposing Islamophobia and
antisemitism, unless we do something concrete, we may have this
problem for a lot longer than we think.
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. He is right: we must ensure that
laws are constantly updated and reviewed. That goes for the
offline world, but also the online one; I am sure he will be
aware of the work we are doing, with cross-party support, on
online safety to tackle the important issues he raises.
