Labour’s new Islamophobia definition risks 'reviving non-crime hate incidents' as Keir Starmer told to pull ANOTHER U-turn

Labour has been accused of "reviving non-crime hate incidents" over its new definition of Islamophobia.

Think-tank Policy Exchange has published a new report that suggested changing the definition into one of "anti-Muslim hostility" makes it even wider and more dangerous.

Baroness Falkner, chair until last month of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRCP, welcomed the report, adding the proposed definition is "dangerous and divisive" and “even worse than anticipated."

She said "it will become a free speech and thought control problem is immediately evident. If there is one policy that cries out for another Government U-turn, it is this."

The report, False Compromise, by Sir John Jenkins and Andrew Gilligan, says the dictionary definition of "hostility" includes "not agreeing" with something or being "opposed" to it.

In the report, the group suggested that under the definition it would theoretically be accurate to describe the National Secular Society as hostile to the growth of Muslim (and other religious) schools.

It read: "No hatred is present here, merely opposition. But if the idea that 'hostility' is prohibited takes hold, these and many other legitimate points of view risk being caught."

In addition to this, the report suggested police will stop recording "non-crime hate incidents," an official definition of "anti-Muslim hostility" risks, in effect, giving this enormously controversial practice a new lease of life.

Jenkins and Gilligan say: "It is easy to see how a definition could become ‘non-crime hate incidents Mark Two,’ at least for non-crimes involving Muslims, used to pressure police forces, local authorities, employers or other bodies to record or sanction incidents of 'anti-Muslim hostility."

More to follow...

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