Anti-Semitism

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Westminster Hall

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

This has been an extremely thought-provoking and, at times, emotional and hard-hitting debate. As Members have highlighted, it is also timely, as it links to Holocaust memorial week. I would like to reinforce the comments of the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Mr Dodds), reminding colleagues that it is still possible to sign the book of commitment, which has been placed in the House. I would also like to support the comments of the hon. Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) about the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

I congratulate the all-party group against anti-Semitism on securing the debate, under the guidance of my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann), and on the work that they do in ensuring that I and other parliamentary colleagues can engage with the issue on a cross-party basis and draw down information from the reports produced.

Members have spoken on a diverse range of topics under the broad title of the debate. I will endeavour to relate my comments to the issues raised.

We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw about the pending review to tackle hate crime on the internet and in the media. We also heard some strong comments from my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson). I hope that the Minister has taken note of the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw on the role of the EU and EU directives. I am also interested to hear the Minister’s thoughts on what he expects the forthcoming seminar to address and how he feels that it might be able to make progress building on the work started under the former Labour Government.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw stressed just how powerful cross-party consensus can be. We have been made aware of that in this Chamber, with hon. Members in every part calling each other hon. Friends. That is genuinely to be welcomed.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw also drew attention to the importance of the need for better reporting of hate crime, specifically anti-Semitic crime, and to the progress being made in that respect, with the report from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Hon. Members expressed concerns about the radicalisation of young people, which cuts across all faiths and political views. In 2009 I was a member of the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government, which looked into some of those issues as part of its inquiry into preventing extremism. Our findings made it clear that defining a single pathway to radicalisation is impossible, as is predicting which specific individuals will progress to overt extreme practices, including anti-Semitic behaviour.

The Select Committee was also critical of how the then Government generally kept referring back to the usual suspects, some of whom—outside their relations with Government—were putting out materials that should not have been tolerated. However, that is now a side point.

The Select Committee said that there was an urgent need to consider factors such as the access to hate communications via the internet. That point has been made repeatedly today.

In the current economic climate of cuts, concern should be expressed about adequate funding and support for a range of groups in the localities, to ensure that advice is available to help to prevent alienation and to support community cohesion. We have heard that education is important, but some local authorities are struggling to continue to meet their commitments in that respect and are cutting their community cohesion budgets.

I would welcome the Minister’s comments on how work previously carried out under the preventing violent extremism programme will be taken forward or amended by the new Government. Clearly, there is a direct relationship in that programme with anti-Semitic behaviour.

The Select Committee was clear that it was important for faith groups and their leaders to take the initiative and, where possible, to work in cross-faith groups to encourage tolerance and acceptance and that there are strengths in diversity. Hon. Members highlighted some excellent work in the area, such as the strong example of the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), on the back of a serious incident.

Work needs to be done with young people in their communities. That is essential, because the alienation of young people from their parents and elders also causes radicalisation, providing evidence of some anti-Semitic behaviour and of a lot of the mindless behaviour described by the hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon).

Members throughout the Chamber have referred to the role of universities, many of which have responded, to ensure that precautions such as speaker request forms or signed behaviour agreements are in place. However, as Members pointed out, a great lack of knowledge and, at times, of expertise and commitment remains in some areas, among some universities—student union and staff-side—in dealing with potential incidents, as well as in avoiding opportunities for unacceptable behaviour and radicalisation. However, I trust that vice-chancellors reading the text of the debate in Hansard will take note of the concerns expressed, in particular by my right hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr MacShane), who is no longer in his place.

The Government, like the previous one, will want to continue a dialogue with the further and higher education sectors, to ensure that every care is taken to avoid the worst practices and experiences, some of which we have heard described today. We all look forward to the Minister’s comments.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw also touched on Parliament leading by example and talked about the targeting of Jewish and pro-Zionist candidates in elections. Election material that is intimidatory, with inappropriate use of language, such as was evident in Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005 and in the dreadful examples given in today’s debate, must be stopped and challenged. That point was made by the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith). We should never stand back, but always challenge. No candidate should have to face what the hon. Member for Ilford North faced.

The material and quotes described in the document on anti-Semitic and violent rhetoric by UK extremist groups are intolerable and should always be challenged. I hope that anti-Islamic material would also be subject to the same full force of the law. Other faiths, too, face unacceptable hate crimes, as we heard from the right hon. Member for Belfast North, who highlighted some excellent educational work in Northern Ireland.

We have had a full and rounded debate. Along with other colleagues, I welcome what the Home Secretary is doing this evening in further enhancing discussion around Islamophobia, because there are links. However, anti-Semitism has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the oldest prejudices—for want of a stronger word—in the western world. Although, generally, it has been driven out of mainstream cultural and political discourse, it remains and it is, sadly, accompanied by a host of other prejudices against a range of different groups, whether defined by religion, gender, race or sexuality. We have to work throughout communities and age groups to drive out anti-Semitism and to encourage cohesion. It is not, therefore, simply an outcome of the Iraq war or recent history.

Remembering the unique, tragic and appalling history of anti-Semitism, in particular in the 20th century, is important, and it should serve as a lesson to us all—one we must certainly never forget. I hope that, in some small way, today’s debate has contributed.

[Katy Clark (in the Chair)]

Order. As this is a Back-Bench debate, I intend to call the hon. Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer), who was one of its instigators, no later than 5.20 pm.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Stunell]

My right hon. Friend asks me to draw a fine line between having unpopular opinions and committing violent, unpopular and illegal acts. I do not want to get drawn too far into that debate, but the Government and the DCLG are developing their thinking on how to promote integration in our society and tackle the alienation of all groups, even those not necessarily connected to a religion or ethnic background. Unfortunately, there are plenty of alienated young people who do not fit either of those two stereotypical models. Ensuring that we promote the integration of all into society is an important Government objective.

Reference has been made to the cross-Government working group that was set up to tackle anti-Semitism, and I will report briefly on what the group has been doing and what it proposes to do. The group meets quarterly to monitor further progress on the commitments made by Departments to tackle anti-Semitism. That work can be seen in the Government’s response document from last November, and the group ensures that those commitments are followed through. In the first instance, the working group focuses specifically on issues that are still cause for common concern. Anti-Semitism on the internet is top of that list, and we have undertaken to give regular progress reports to Parliament on that subject.

I had a meeting yesterday with the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire), who is the Minister with responsibility for crime prevention. We looked at how to ensure that issues of concern to the DCLG and the Home Office can be jointly taken forward, and we will do what we believe to be necessary in order to stimulate action.

Later this year there will be a second ministerial seminar to find ways of improving action and impact. It will involve colleagues from a number of Departments including the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Crown Prosecution Service. There will be representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the DCLG, as well as MPs, lawyers and departmental officials. The seminar will be led by the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), who is the Minister with responsibility for communications. We are pushing forward on this. We are clear that we must find ways of tackling at both national and international level anti-Semitism on the internet.

I want to pick up the point about anti-Semitism on university campuses. First, although I am sure that it was implied in many of the remarks that were made, no one actually mentioned further education, and further education colleges and campuses—

[Alison Seabeck]

I think that I did.

[Andrew Stunell]

I apologise if I overlooked that reference. The point that the hon. Lady and I—I am sure—agree on is that, of course, what has been said about university campuses is important, but so too is what may be going on in other educational establishments.

The problem was first highlighted by the all-party group’s inquiry in 2005, but progress has been harder to make on it than on some of the other issues that were raised. There are some examples of good practice, including the Manchester university code, but it is clear that that is not enough. There is a strong feeling that many individual universities and student unions have not taken these issues as seriously as they should have done; or perhaps it is not so much that they have failed to take them seriously, but that the high passions that are aroused, often by international events, have been allowed to spill over into completely unacceptable behaviour, which has not been challenged robustly and effectively. We believe that that must change.