Sir Keir Starmer’s election pledge of legal reforms to combat Islamophobia is welcome news, but it also serves as a reminder of the Conservative Party’s decade-long disregard for an issue of central significance to millions of Muslims.
Speaking at an Eid al-Adha reception co-hosted by the British Muslim Friends of Labour on July 11, Starmer said that it “is abhorrent that 42 per cent of religious hate crimes are targeted at Muslims” and vowed that the next Labour government will introduce an updated Race Equality Act.”
He added that Labour would strengthen the law so that “every category of hate crime is treated as an aggravated offence.”
It is important to not only tackle Islamophobia in society but also our ranks in the Party. This is why we have a code of conduct on Islamophobia, Islamophobia awareness training, a new independent complaints process, and an Islamophobia complaints handbook.”
Starmer went further. He vowed to the Muslim community gathered at Labour HQ that “a future Labour Government will stand up for Muslims and work to ensure Muslim communities feel safe, secure, and respected.” It is hoped this will include adopting, as a government, the definition of Islamophobia.
In contrast, the Conservative government has refused to adopt the All-Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia and has done very little to tackle Islamophobia within its ranks.
In recent years, the Party has been subject to two inquiries regarding Islamophobia. A much-anticipated Singh investigation cleared the party of institutional Islamophobia, despite insultingly not consulting a single Muslim member.
It was, unsurprisingly, dismissed as a whitewash by numerous Tory Muslim members, including former veteran Tory MEP Sajjad Karim, who voiced his concern that the party would use “sleight of hand” tricks to avoid implementing the few recommendations made by the inquiry.
The Tories’ blatant indifference to Islamophobia prompted Labour’s then-Chair Anneliese Dodds to write to her opposite number, Nadhim Zahawi, during Islamophobia Awareness Month last year, demanding action. The Labour Party has long been seen as the party of choice for the overwhelming majority of Muslim voters. 87 per cent of Muslims voted for Labour in 2017.
Support was strong among voters of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin (the vast majority of Muslims in the UK). The comparable data for the 2019 general election is not available, although 64 per cent of Black, Asian and minority ethnic voters chose Labour.
A small survey commissioned by the Labour Muslim Network in 2021 also showed 72 per cent of Muslim respondents identified with Labour. This support is extremely valuable to the party. Due to the concentration of Muslim voters in a small number of areas and the British electoral system of first past the post, Muslims have the power to sway marginal seats if they vote as a bloc.
The Conservatives’ failure to tackle Islamophobia internally and nationally and bolster Muslim voters in marginal seats in the midlands and London is all the more bewildering given Labour’s revival threat in Scotland.
With the Scottish National Party embroiled in a corruption scandal, confidence is growing among Labour supporters that a major electoral comeback in Scotland is possible.
A recent YouGov poll has the SNP set to lose more than half of its current seats at Westminster to a resurgent Scottish Labour, crucial to delivering an overall majority at the next general election. In light of this, the Labour leadership knows they must consolidate their traditional Muslim vote south of the border.
Number 10’s failure to even attempt to engage with the Muslim electorate, rein in one openly hawkish Home Secretary after another, and ditch an electoral campaign, which, according to appalled former Tory adviser Iain Anderson, is centred on stoking “a culture war to distract from fundamental economic failings,” could usher in the first Labour government since 2010.
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