West Midlands Police

Joani Reid Excerpts

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The hon. Gentleman will know that we do not generally use retrospectivity in our legal system, and to take such a step would be a new innovation. He should wait for the full proposals, which I will publish in the policing reform White Paper. The next decision—if a further decision is made—is for the police and crime commissioner. It would be completely wrong for me to try to influence, comment on or get ahead of that decision from the Dispatch Box. As we have discussed, the police and crime commissioner has those powers under the 2011 Act, and it will be for him to reflect on whether he wishes to use them.

[Joani Reid (East Kilbride and Strathaven) (Lab)]

This sorry saga with West Midlands police reveals a serious story about public life in Britain. It has become clear that employees in our public institutions do not recognise, understand or perhaps care about antisemitism in the police, local government, universities, political parties and elsewhere, and they are all too willing to accept at face value the claims by antisemites that their real objection is to the Israeli Government. They are unwitting agents of an agenda from the far left, the far right and Islamists. Antisemitism is rampant and unrelenting. Does the Home Secretary recognise the urgent need to take action, and will she consider a cross-departmental extremism strategy to address ideological antisemitism and other forms of extremism?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I thank my hon. Friend for her point, which was well made, about the stain of antisemitism in our country and the breadth and depth of ways in which it presents itself. I am well aware of those problems and working hard to resolve them. A cross-Government effort is under way, and we will have more to say in due course. I assure her that, as Home Secretary, my duty is to ensure that our legal system—law and order, and policing—is robust enough to withstand attempts to frustrate or improperly influence that system. It is important to remember that Sir Andy Cooke did not find that antisemitism was a motivating factor for the police officers who made the decisions in this case—nor were they subject to improper political interference or acting with malign intent. I accept her broader point, however, and reassure her that we are working on that carefully.