A government-commissioned working group has submitted a proposal to define anti-Muslim hostility, a step advocates say is vital for justice and protection, but which critics argue risks breaking existing law as outlined by The Guardian.
The Definition Proposal
The non-statutory definition, put forward in October 2025 by a working group on anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia launched that year, is intended to protect people in line with current legislation. Shaista Gohir, a cross-bench peer and head of the Muslim Women’s Network who was part of the group, said it would act as a tool for police and other settings to assess anti-Muslim hostility and give confidence to report discrimination.
Gohir criticised Downing Street for its handling of the issue, blaming No 10 personally and warning that with an election in about three years’ time, the situation is set to worsen. Her intervention comes after government figures showed hate crimes against Muslims rose by nearly a fifth in 2025, which she cited as the reason for seeking the definition, stating every group has the right to be protected due to high levels of abuse and increased personal attacks.
Criticism and Legal Warnings
The adoption of a definition has been met with strong opposition from other UK faith groups, the Conservative thinktank Policy Exchange, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Critics argue it would limit freedom of expression and the ability to criticise Islam, with Policy Exchange claiming it could undermine Britain’s counter-terrorism laws, immigration rules and foreign policy “without democratic consent”.
The EHRC has strongly opposed any definition, arguing it risks “breaking the law”. An EHRC spokesperson said legal protections against discrimination and hate crime already exist, making the role of a new definition unclear, and that an official non-statutory definition risks conflict with existing legal definitions, causing inconsistency and confusion for courts and individuals.
Community Sentiment and Hate Crime Data
Research reveals most British Muslims feel negative about their future in the UK, with only 8.2% feeling positive and 62.7% negative, according to the Muslim Census’s “The Crisis of Belonging” report. Just over half – 51.9% – said they felt they “strongly belong to the UK”, a plunge from the 93% reported in an Ipsos Mori survey ten years ago. The survey of 4,800 people, conducted in partnership with charities Islamic Relief UK and the National Zakat Foundation, identified rising Islamophobia, the political climate, “feeling unwelcome in their own country” and job security as concerns.
The Muslim Census analysed British Muslims’ financial health and “sense of belonging”. This follows a report by the Commons’ women and equalities committee which found Muslim women were disproportionately likely to face hostility and abuse, with rising online, verbal and physical abuse and discrimination deeply affecting individual lives and corroding community cohesion.
Last year, more than three dozen Labour and independent MPs wrote to the communities secretary, Steve Reed, urging him to adopt an Islamophobia definition after government statistics showed a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes from 2,690 offences to 3,199 in the 12 months to March 2025 in England and Wales, where 3.9 million people identify as Muslim.
Political and Historical Context
Under the Equality Act 2010, Islam is protected as a religion, but Muslims are not defined as a racial group so are not covered by protection against racial discrimination. In 2019, the Labour party adopted a working definition of Islamophobia from the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims, which said: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” This definition was adopted by many organisations, as well as by the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Conservatives, but the Westminster government and Conservative party did not follow suit, arguing it had “not been broadly accepted” and needed further consideration.
In 2016, the government adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which has been taken up by the main UK parties. Gohir highlighted this, stating that when the antisemitism definition was endorsed, there was no campaign against it, and she sees unequal treatment in the current debate.
The working group on anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia is chaired by the barrister Dominic Grieve KC, who was attorney general for England and Wales between 2010 and 2014. Should it proceed, the proposed definition is expected to be put to a consultation. Gohir said opposition is deliberate to pressure the government not to adopt one, adding the proposal had been widely consulted on and would not interfere with freedom of speech.
She concluded that if the Labour government does not adopt a definition, it will be sending a message to Muslim communities that “you don’t matter, your safety does not matter, Muslims do not matter.”
