Anti-Semitism

Baroness Eaton Excerpts

Tuesday 26th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, in her last phrase I think the noble Baroness is referring to university campuses. There are issues there that remain a concern, but in all fairness considerable progress has been made. The present NUS president, Shakira Martin, deserves praise. She has been working with the Union of Jewish Students, for example. There is still work to be done, but considerable work has been done in that regard. I agree with the noble Baroness about tackling Islamophobia. That too is a challenge that we have to meet in all political parties.

[Baroness Eaton (Con)]

Will the Minister explain what Her Majesty’s Government are doing to deal with anti-Semitism in social media?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that hate crime in general on social media is something we are seeking to address; we have invested money in that fairly recently. My noble friend is correct to say that it is a very important concern, but it also has an international dimension and is very difficult to deal with. For all that, it is important that we do deal with it, and we are seeking to do so.