Anti-Semitism

Baroness Warsi Excerpts

Wednesday 8th June 2011 Grand Committee

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, I take this opportunity to congratulate my noble friend Lord Boswell of Aynho on securing this extremely important debate. My noble friend was an integral part of the initial all-party parliamentary inquiry in 2005 and, since the publication of the report, he has worked tirelessly to challenge anti-Semitism. Today’s debate is a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our strong and enduring commitment to tackle anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred. I am grateful to Members from all sides of this House for their wise and insightful contributions to this important debate.

As my noble friend Lord Boswell mentioned, this debate is taking place during the Jewish festival of Shavuot, so many Peers including the Chief Rabbi are not with us today. That said, the ongoing fight against bigotry and hatred falls on all our shoulders, whatever our background. It is an issue that crosses party lines. As my noble friend mentioned, I am pleased that Muslim, Christian and Jewish people, those of different faiths and none, are here today discussing this important issue whatever our backgrounds. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, whom I have had the pleasure of working with on many occasions for his kind remarks.

As many noble Lords have highlighted, anti-Semitism regretfully remains a factor in the life of the British-Jewish community. The Government continue to share the community’s concern about the rise of anti-Semitism, both at home and abroad. In particular, we are concerned about the rise of hate on the internet, the growth of extremism on university campuses, the security concerns of Jewish faith schools, the low levels of hate crimes brought to justice and the existence of extremist groups such as al-Muhajiroun, the English Defence League and the British National Party. I cannot be clearer; wherever and whatever the roots of anti-Semitism, it must be confronted, challenged and condemned. Since the all-party inquiry in 2005, the Government have made significant progress against the initial 35 recommendations. The police and other bodies have become better at dealing with violence, threats and the desecration of synagogues and cemeteries. However, we recognise that progress still needs to be made, especially when anti-Semitism is less explicit and when there is lazy acceptance of Jewish stereotypes.

It is almost six months since we published our three years on progress report and, despite the progress outlined in the report, we have not been complacent. We will continue to take practical, effective action to stamp out anti-Semitism whenever and wherever it occurs. I am extremely pleased that noble Lords have referred to the specific work of the cross-government working group, which brings together civil servants from across Whitehall and representatives from three leading Jewish organisations: the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Community Security Trust, and the Jewish Leadership Council. The working group gives members of the Jewish community direct access to central government and is a vehicle to raise concerns—and I assure noble Lords that these concerns are heard and that the concerns of the community are acted upon.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, raised a very important point about the UCU and the motion not to use the European Union Monitoring Centre's definition of anti-Semitism. That issue was raised by the Jewish community through the working group late last week. A teleconference took place to discuss the issue this week and an urgent group meeting has been scheduled for the week beginning 20 June. I assure the noble Baroness that I shall keep her updated on the progress of that particular matter. The group has been cited as an example of best practice across Europe and the Americas by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The noble Lord, Lord Anderson, among others, raised the issue of extremism on university campuses. Noble Lords will be aware that yesterday the Government published an updated Prevent strategy, and this issue was referred to particularly. Universities and colleges promote and facilitate the exchange of opinions and ideas, and promote debate as well as enable a learning environment. However, universities and colleges have a legal and moral obligation to staff and students to ensure that the place of work and study is a tolerant, welcoming and safe environment. Universities and other higher education institutions are charities and therefore they must comply with charity law. The Charity Act 2006 requires all student unions to register with the Charity Commission by the end of June 2011. Legally, all charities must work for the public benefit and must act to avoid damage to the charity’s reputation, assets and associated individuals. Higher education institutions and student unions must therefore give due consideration to the public benefit and associated risks when they, or one of their affiliated societies, invite controversial or extremist speakers to address students.

We accept that universities and colleges of further education will need guidance, information and best practice to address these issues. Therefore the Government will continue to support the sector to improve its capacity. The National Union of Students is already in the process of developing guidance to student unions on free speech and tolerance, which will be published later this year. Moreover, the Equality Challenge Unit will publish outcomes from its major religion and belief study later this year. The Jewish community has been directly involved in the project’s development.

Ofcom and its role in relation to Press TV was another issue that was raised. Officials from the cross-government working group meet Ofcom regularly to discuss issues of concern, and to date I can inform noble Lords that Ofcom has recorded four breaches against Press TV; the first three relate to breaches of the due impartiality requirements by not including viewpoints arguing the position of the Israeli state. However, at this stage I am not aware of any breaches against Press TV in relation to anti-Semitism.

The noble Lord, Lord Beecham, raised the issue of extremism during election campaigns. We have initiated meetings and correspondence with the Electoral Commission and the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the hope of getting clarity on this issue. The cross-government working group that tackles anti-Semitism has been tasked with taking this matter forward. As politicians, we are renowned for having different opinions on a whole host of issues, both domestic and international. Indeed, my noble friend Lord Alderdice made an important point about a diversity of opinion within and between religious communities. However, while we regularly oppose and contradict each others’ ideas, it can never be right that a person standing for high office, such as a Member of Parliament, should be campaigned against simply because of their race or religion.

My noble friend Lord Roberts of Llandudno referred to Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a place that I visited in 2008 with the Lessons from Auschwitz project. The systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6 million Jews and other minorities by the Nazi regime and its collaborators makes the Holocaust a unique and unparalleled horror in Europe’s history. I am proud that this Government have contributed £2.1 million to the Auschwitz-Birkenau restoration fund. This contribution, alongside our commitment to continue to fund the Lessons from Auschwitz project in 2011, and the £750,000 that we are providing to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for the 2011 commemoration, will ensure that the Holocaust has a permanent place in our national conscience and that the memory of those who perished is honoured and preserved.

This Government are committed to building on the foundations laid by the previous Administration. In the past 12 months, we have appointed Sir Andrew Burns as the UK envoy for post-Holocaust issues. We have agreed to provide up to £2 million to fund security measures for Jewish faith schools within the state sector. We have committed £2 million during 2010-11 to Faith in Action, a small grants programme to support local interfaith activity. In particular, we have supported to the tune of around £275,000 52 projects that are bringing together people of the Jewish faith and other faiths. The Government have also supported Interfaith Week to the tune of £200,000 in 2010, including funding for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Three Faiths Forum, the Council of Christians and Jews, the Joseph Interfaith Foundation and Mitzvah Day UK. The UK also regularly contributes to international efforts to tackle anti-Semitism, and we play a key role in developments in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism.

All police forces must now record anti-Semitic hate crimes, and in November ACPO published the first official anti-Semitic hate-crime statistics. This action has received specific praise at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s High Level Meeting on Confronting Anti-Semitism in Public Discourse, held in Prague in March 2011. The Government have also produced and delivered occupational standards for police officers handling hate crimes, and we have published a diagnostic toolkit to enable local criminal justice agencies to self-audit their performances in the handling of hate crimes, from initial call handling through to prosecution. We have also supported the Community Security Trust, with funding from the Victims Fund. The grant was awarded to support the CST’s work to improve the reporting of anti-Semitic attacks in London and Manchester. The funding also helped to develop a guidance booklet, A Guide to Fighting Hate Crime.

International agencies and monitoring bodies have regularly praised the UK’s approach and are often held up as being at the forefront of state responses to tackling hate crime. However, as I said earlier, we cannot afford to be complacent, and I can assure the Committee that we are committed to continuing this work and to offering whatever support we can in the ongoing fight against anti-Semitism. As I have said before, and will say again, anti-religious bigotry and hatred should not be tolerated whenever and wherever they manifest themselves.

Once again, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this important debate and in particular to my noble friend Lord Boswell for his efforts in securing this debate and his commitment over the years in the other place and now here to tackling anti-Semitism.

Committee adjourned at 8.09 pm.