Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2025 to Question 24223 on Freedom of Expression, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of introducing a definition of Islamophobia on legal rights to freedom of expression relating to blasphemy.

The Government has established a new working group to provide government with a definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia, advising government and other bodies on how to best understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination, and hate crime targeted against Muslims. The group’s proposed definition must be compatible with the unchanging right of British citizens to exercise freedom of speech and expression. The Government has been clear that there is no blasphemy law in England, and we will not introduce one.