Republican lawmakers have warned of a “massive Muslim takeover” in the U.K. government, while claiming that it could also happen in the U.S., despite Muslims making up a small percentage of the population in both countries.

On May 8, Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, posted a clip posted on X, formerly Twitter, of Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, giving a speech on the House floor, voicing fears of Muslims gaining membership in the U.K. government.

“You’ve got a massive Muslim takeover on the United Kingdom going on right before our eyes,” Roy said without giving evidence to back up his claims. “I’ve got some pretty strong concerns about Sharia law and whether that will be forced upon the American people.” Sharia law is the legal system followed by Muslims.

“I’ve got pretty strong concerns about people who want to see Israel’s destruction. Who were happy about October 7^th. Who are elected in the United Kingdom. Some might say that we’ve seen that here in the United States,” Roy said.
Roy then questioned if immigrants in the U.S. are being taught about Western civilization.

“Are we teaching people about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the rule of law … are we teaching them God exists?” Roy asked. “Or are we teaching an entire generation or two or three to run around complaining about what’s wrong and why the entire world is against them because of their skin color, their sex, their supposed gender identity—whatever that hell category we create to make people have an excuse for not just stepping up and achieving the American dream?”

Alongside the video, Boebert claimed, also without any evidence, that “the United Kingdom has radical Islamists taking political office all over the country. We’re looking at it from here in America horrified, not realizing that it will be us next.”

Roy and Boebert’s comments come after Liberal Democrats gained 104 council seats while Conservatives lost 474 seats in the U.K.’s recent election. Liberal Democrats now have 522 council seats while Conservatives have 515. The Labour Party gained 186 seats, giving them a total of 1,158.

It is unclear how many of the newly elected U.K. officials are Muslim, but, according to England and Wales census data from 2021, 6.5 percent of the population identified as Muslim (3.9 million people). Pew Research Center estimated that Muslims made up about 1.1 percent of the U.S. population in 2017 (3.45 million).

The Muslim Council of Britain, a Muslim advocacy group in the U.K., told Newsweek via email on May 9: “We have a proud multifaith and multicultural country where we have people of all faiths and none in public service. We have a British Hindu Prime Minister and yes, British Muslims leading our cities and representing ordinary Britons. They don’t come close to reflecting the demographic make-up of minorities, and yet their numbers are big enough to trigger bigots on both sides of the Atlantic.

“We are getting used to extremist American politicians’ scaremongering over this, just as we’ve had American commentators lying about supposed British no-go zones dominated by Muslims. We hope common sense prevails.”

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