Sir Keir Starmer has been urged by figures in his own party to tackle “head on” those pushing “Islamophobic talking points” in the debate on grooming gangs despite Labour fears of losing votes to Reform.

Writing exclusively for The i Paper, the leaders of the Labour Muslim Network, have urged the Prime Minister to show the “courage” to call out attacks such as Robert Jenrick’s call for a crackdown on immigration from countries with “alien cultures” and “medieval attitudes”.

They also sounded the alarm that the “poisoned discourse” would only get worse after Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to remove content controls from his social media platforms to make it more like the X platform owned by Donald Trump ally Elon Musk, who has revived the debate on grooming gangs in the UK in recent days.

The PM may take particular note of the intervention from Labour Muslims after his party’s performance in July’s general election suffered over its stance on Gaza.

Starmer on Wednesday again rejected calls from Conservatives, Reform and tech billionaire Musk to launch a national inquiry on grooming gangs of mainly South Asian heritage.

He also warned Tory leader Kemi Badenoch against the “lies and misinformation and slinging of mud” in the debate on grooming gangs and suggested he had “jumped on the bandwagon” with her calls for an inquiry.

Earlier this week, Starmer said Badenoch’s party was “amplifying what the far-right is saying” on grooming while failing in government to act on the landmark 2022 Alexis Jay report on child sex abuse.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch however accused Starmer of “enabling those people who wish to smear all British Muslims based on the actions of a small minority” by refusing an inquiry.

She also suggested Labour politicians may be “complicit” in “one of the worst scandals in British history”, which has blown up since X boss Musk launched a barrage of attacks on Starmer and Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips on the issue, and voiced support for jailed far-right agitator Tommy Robinson.

But Labour Muslim Network chair author Ali Milani and vice-chair Samayya Afzal, said they had seen evidence of politicians using the row to employ political strategies “predicated on demonising Muslim communities, attacking Islam and targeting (mostly Muslim) migrants who come to this country in search of safety and asylum”.

They wrote: “Muslims have had to contend with being called ‘alien’, ‘backward’, ‘medieval’, ‘barbaric’, ‘extreme’ and so much more. We recognise those classic Islamophobic tropes that suggest Muslims have an inherent problem with women, that Muslims demean women, and that Muslims bring with them ‘medieval’ cultures to infect Britain. None of it is true. We know that. The reality is Musk, Jenrick and all their friends and colleagues know it too.”

Milani and Afzal urged Starmer to ensure that fears over losing votes to Reform does not temper Labour’s response to the claims.

They said: “We know many are fearful of (Nigel) Farage and the rise of Reform. We have heard it from Labour figures across the party.But the answer is not to cower to them or allow them to define the narrative of Britain’s past or future. That is not only a recipe for division and further hate, but also of political suicide. You cannot out-Farage, Farage. The answer is to challenge them head on. If they want to divide our communities, we will unite them. If they want to attack migrants and refugees, we will defend them. If they want to embrace the likes of Elon Musk, we will stand in their way. Do we have the courage to do that?”

Reform leader Nigel Farage has fallen out with Elon Musk after he said there was no place for Tommy Robinson in his party, following Musk’s support for the right-wing agitator, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court.

After the comment Musk tweeted that Farage should be replaced as Reform leader as he did not “have what it takes”.

Source: The i Paper

The United Nations committee responsible for combating racism has criticized the United Kingdom over continuing hate crimes, hate speech and xenophobic incidents, following riots fueled by hate and misinformation that gripped the country this summer.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed deep concern on Friday, August 23, over the presence of racist speech on various platforms, particularly when perpetuated by politicians and public figures.

The committee was “particularly concerned about recurring racist acts, violence, and hate speech against ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers by extremist far-right and white supremacist individuals and groups.”

According to CERD’s report, the UK must act to curb the sharp increase in the use of racist hate speech by British politicians and high-profile public figures. Ministers must “adopt comprehensive measures to discourage and combat racist hate speech and xenophobic discourse by political and public figures” and ensure that such cases are “effectively investigated and sanctioned.”

The committee members declined to name which politicians or public figures had made comments triggering the committee’s concern, but added there were “so many credible reports” of racist comments by high-profile individuals that there was “no doubt that the issue is a serious one in the UK”.

The unrest, which gripped the UK for over a week in July and August, was triggered by misinformation surrounding a tragic stabbing incident in Southport, England, where three young girls were killed.

The suspect, a 17-year-old boy named Axel Rudakubana, was initially reported as a Muslim immigrant, despite being born in Cardiff to Christian Rwandan parents. This false narrative quickly spread on social media, inciting violence across the country.

Exploiting the tragedy, far-right groups launched protests that spiraled into violent clashes with police. Hotels housing asylum seekers were set on fire, and mosques and businesses owned by ethnic and religious minorities were attacked. In total, around 600 people were arrested in connection with the riots.

Notorious anti-immigration figures like Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage were accused of stoking the flames. Farage, a prominent MP and leader of Reform UK, warned ominously of further unrest, while his previous comments on Muslims not sharing British values further fueled tensions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the violence, labeling it as “far-right thuggery.”

Presenting the report on Friday based on a four-year review into Britain’s record on tackling race discrimination, the committee highlighted “very troubling” manifestations of racism within the UK, flagging particular concern about racial profiling in stop and search practices, and the “excessive and deadly” use of force by law enforcement.

Committee members were “particularly concerned about the high number of strip-searches carried out on children, especially children of African descent, by law enforcement officials, and at the increase of police presence in schools with higher proportions of ethnic minority children”.

The government should “take steps to address the over-policing of schools with higher proportions of ethnic minority pupils and adopt and strengthen legislation and other measures to explicitly prohibit strip-searches on children”, the report advised.

A UK government spokesperson said on Friday: “There is no excuse for the hatred, violence and intimidation we saw online and on our streets. It was not legitimate protest, it was violent thuggery, and why we have taken the toughest action to ensure those involved in the disorder, directly or indirectly by stirring up hatred, face the full force of the law.”

Source: UN News

The organizations say: “the recent surge in Extreme Right-Wing violence, driven by extremist figures led by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as ‘Tommy Robinson’… has created a climate of terror for ethnic minorities and Muslims across the country.”

They say that law enforcement and intelligence agencies have failed to contain this growing threat so they have come together to request that the EDL is proscribed as a terrorist organization.

The Muslim, Black and Asian legal organizations are: Association of Muslim Lawyers, Society of Black Lawyers, Black Lives Matter, Legal Action for Peace, Society of Asian Lawyers, Federation of Redbridge Muslim Organizations, Aziz Foundation, Restless Beings, Muslim Women of Merton, Finsbury Park Mosque, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Muslim Professionals Forum, Balham Mosque & Tooting Islamic Centre, Muslim Association of Britain and Parents United.

Their letter states: “Yaxley-Lennon has been inciting his followers by fueling hatred towards Muslims and ethnic minorities including refugees. On 1^st June, he launched his documentary ‘Lawfare’ which covers his warped perception that there is a ‘two-tier policing’ system of the pro-Palestinian protests as opposed to those that were against the pro-Palestinian protests in support of Israel’s ‘plausible genocide’ of the Palestinians…

“Since his first protest on 1st June, Yaxley-Lennon has increased his rhetoric by inciting his followers to commit violence against Muslims, refugees and ultimately people of color. You can see that he has continued to repeat his claims of ‘two-tier policing’ which is now being extended to extremely dangerous and sinister claims of a ‘two-tier government.’ At the time of writing, Yaxley-Lennon continues to publish conspiracy theories and false narratives.

“We consider that Yaxley-Lennon has been inciting terrorism via his tweets to large audiences. In a video on 4th August, he said in anger ‘Men will rise up, they were always going to rise up, they have to rise up to defend their families.’ A hotel, housing asylum seekers, was set on fire by his supporters on 4th August in Tamworth placing their lives and hotel staff at risk…

“In light of Yaxley-Lennon’s conduct including incitement and the continued association and presence of former EDL members at his protests, it is our view that EDL meets the statutory test to proscribe EDL in order to protect the public from its members…

“We cannot in good conscience risk our lives or the lives of our families by returning to normality until the EDL is proscribed. The government’s responsibility to protect its citizens is paramount, and we urge you to act swiftly and decisively to restore peace and security. We remain open to dialogue and are ready to assist in any way possible to ensure the safety of all citizens and refugees in this country.”

English Defence League (EDL)

Under the Terrorism Act 2000, the Home Secretary may proscribe an organization if they believe it is concerned with terrorism, and it is proportionate to do so.

Under the Act, terrorism means the use or threat of action which involves serious violence against a person, serious damage to property, endangers a person’s life or creates a risk to life, to influence the government or intimidate the public.

It must also be carried out with the aim to advance a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

The EDL was founded in 2009 and experienced its heyday in 2011.

Tommy Robinson – a former member of the BNP who had a criminal conviction for assault – became the group’s de facto leader shortly after it was formed.

Ideologically, it rejected the idea that Muslims can truly be English, while promoting Islam as a threat to European values and blaming a perceived decline in “English culture” on high immigration rates.

The profile of the EDL rose dramatically between 2010 and 2013, but soon began to lose momentum – partly due to in-fighting among the group’s different factions.

The group was then revealed to have links to Norwegian far-right activist Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of a series of bombing and shooting attacks in July 2011 that killed 77 people.

Robinson left the organization in 2013, amid fears he could not control the group’s more violent followers.

Source: 5pillarsuk.com

A peer has been accused of Islamophobia after giving a “disgusting and outrageous” speech in the House of Lords.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch claimed “radicals” plan to “take us over through the power of the womb and the ballot box” after discussing government plans to improve counterterrorism measures at public venues following the King’s Speech.

“The sharia allows Muslim men to have four wives at a time, most of whom are having at least two children, so the Muslim population is going up 10 times faster than our national average,” he told the House of Lords last Thursday, July 25.

“On past trends, Birmingham and nine other English local authorities will be majority Muslim by 2031. The radicals’ plan is to wait until they can take us over through the power of the womb and the ballot box.”

The 82-year-old, now a non-affiliated peer having formerly sat as a Conservative and briefly been the leader of Ukip, has been condemned for his comments.

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece wrote on X: “Lord Pearson of Rannoch gave a disgusting anti-Muslim racist speech in the House of Lords today. He would’ve been loudly condemned if he spoke about other faiths in this way.”

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) say they are lodging formal complaints with the House of Lords commissioners for standards over Lord Pearson’s remarks.

Zara Mohammed, MCB secretary general, told The Independent: “Lord Pearson’s recent comments are outrageous and perpetuate classic Islamophobic tropes that demonize British Muslim communities. He appears indifferent to the impact of his words, despite the rise in Islamophobia-related hate crimes.

“As a member of the House of Lords, Lord Pearson should be held accountable for his conduct. We will be writing to the House of Lords commissioners for standards and hope they investigate and take appropriate action.”

Raghad Altikriti, chair of MAB, told The Independent: “It is crucial for public figures to promote unity and respect, rather than resort to racist dog whistles and Islamophobic tropes.

“His comments and behavior fall far short of the expected standards of a member of the House of Lords, and we hope that the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards will look into this matter and take decisive action.”

Lord Pearson defended his speech, telling The Independent his points about the Muslim population are “simply factual, being a projection of Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures”.

“Islamists (…) are quite open about using the ‘power of the womb and the ballot box’ to help them take over Western civilization; like communists before the wall came down, they are a world domination movement,” he added.

ONS figures show that 6.5 per cent (3.9m) of the population of England and Wales identified as Muslim in 2021, up by 1.6 per cent a decade earlier.

In March, London charity Islamophobia Response Unit (IRU) reported seeing a 365 per cent rise in Islamophobia-related hate crimes across England and Wales since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict in October.

Lord Pearson previously met with condemnation when he claimed that UK Muslim communities were home to “thousands of potential home-grown terrorists”. He claimed calls for violence were not just coming from a “few extremists”, saying: “These people hate us with frightening religious fervor and we are right to fear them.”

The peer previously organized a House of Lords screening of an anti-Muslim film and invited far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson to parliament.

Lord Pearson joined the Lords in 1990 as a Conservative peer before joining Ukip in 2007 and resigning to sit as a non-affiliated peer in 2019. He became leader of Ukip in 2009 but resigned a year later, saying he was not good enough at party politics to do the job.

A House of Lords spokesperson said: “The House of Lords commissioners for standards are responsible for the independent and impartial investigation of alleged breaches of the House of Lords Code of Conduct.

“The commissioners for standards would need to receive a complaint before undertaking a preliminary assessment to establish whether the complaint falls within their remit to investigate.

“However, it is worth noting paragraph 30(a) of the Code of Conduct, which states that in assessing, investigating and adjudicating allegations of non-compliance, the commissioners must ‘recognize as a primary consideration the constitutional principle of freedom of speech in parliamentary proceedings, including but not limited to the need for members to be able to express their views full and frankly in parliamentary proceedings’.”

Source: The Independent