King’s Speech

Debate between Lord Wilson of Sedgefield and Baroness Gohir

Monday 18th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gohir (CB)]

My Lords, I will focus on the plans in the gracious Speech to modernise hate crime legislation. I declare my interests as CEO of the Muslim Women’s Network and non-executive member of the Law Commission board. The Government must confront a growing and dangerous reality: anti-Muslim hatred is normalised. Successive Governments have failed to address this with the seriousness it demands.

One of the clearest failures lies in our hate crime legislation. The law provides stronger protection against stirring up racial hatred than it does against stirring up religious hatred. In practice, deeply abusive and inflammatory statements about Muslims, Jews and other faith communities can be made without legal consequences, unless they are explicitly threatening. Extremists understand these loopholes and exploit them deliberately to radicalise others who then go on to commit hate crimes. If the Government are serious about reform, they must implement the Law Commission’s recommendation to bring offences relating to stirring up religious hatred in line with those covering stirring up racial hatred. Social media platforms must also be held accountable.

I will share some examples of the impact of anti-Muslim hatred. A Muslim man was murdered in 2013, and another in 2017, by far-right extremists. More recently, there have been attempts to run over Muslims with vehicles; 19 year-old Alina Burns expressed a desire to kill all Jews and Muslims and attacked a Kurdish man in the street with an axe; men entered a mosque in Manchester armed with an axe; 60 year-old Thomas McKenna stockpiled guns and explosives and planned to kill Muslim migrants; 19 year-old Alfie Coleman planned a mass shooting and was going to target London Mayor Sadiq Khan and a mosque; and two Sikh women were raped because the perpetrators believed that they were Muslim. Muslims continue to face verbal abuse in the streets and on public transport, and mosques are being vandalised. Graves are being desecrated—even the dead are not spared hatred.

Muslims do not feel safe, and Muslim women particularly do not feel safe. We saw on Saturday how Muslim women were targeted yet again. Three women got on the stage at the Tommy Robinson rally dressed in a burka, with a crowd shouting, “Take it off, take it off”. The women then took off that clothing to a cheering crowd. It was a deliberate public display of anti-Muslim hostility, aimed at dehumanising visibly Muslim women. The action signalled that targeting visibly Muslim women with intimidation and abuse is acceptable. Where is the condemnation from Government Ministers or indeed in your Lordships’ House? We feel invisible.

Almost half of religious hatred is aimed at Muslims. More than 4,000 incidents are reported annually to the police, but 80% of victims do not report and the actual figures are more likely to be 20,000-plus and growing. They do not report because they can see that Muslim safety does not matter to this Government. Jewish communities also understand the devastating consequences of religious hatred being ignored. They too continue to face rising hostility and abuse.

I have stood here many times in the Chamber and asked about anti-Muslim hatred and about the safety of Muslim women. I get the same response from Ministers: that funding has been provided for mosque security and a national helpline. However, these initiatives were introduced by the previous Government, and the only change we have had is a different service provider for the helpline. Repeating the same examples time and again creates the impression that the Government are failing to listen to the scale of fear, anxiety and frustration felt by Muslim communities. There has been no initiative specifically targeted at Muslim women. When will the Government listen to Muslim women? Perhaps the Government also have stereotypes about Muslim women—that they can too easily be dismissed.

The Government’s recent definition of anti-Muslim hostility is welcome, but, without implementation, without a strategy and without dedicated support, communities will continue to feel that Muslim safety does not matter to this Government. I therefore ask the Minister: does Muslim safety matter to the Government, and will the Home Secretary make a Statement unequivocally condemning the anti-Muslim hatred promoted—

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Wilson of Sedgefield) (Lab)]

Can the noble Baroness bring her remarks to an end? It has been five minutes, and the time limit is four.

[Baroness Gohir (CB)]

I had ended.