Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), the UK’s largest grass-roots Muslim advocacy organisation, has called upon the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to formally take action in investigating Islamophobia in the Conservative Party following the publication of the Singh Investigation Report.
In a press statement, MEND said, that it initially supported the Singh Investigation and submitted evidence of over 120 instances of Islamophobia. The whitewashed report is a grave disappointment to all those hoping for a serious and robust inquiry into Islamophobia. “The report fails to adequately tackle clear examples of Islamophobic and inflammatory comments at senior levels of the party, such as Boris Johnson’s comments on Muslim women in burqas, instead claiming that these cases merely “give the impression to many that the Party and its leadership are insensitive to Muslim communities.” Such language trivialises legitimate concerns and obscures the responsibility of party leadership,” said the press release.
Responding, to the recommendations set out by Professor Swaran Singh, Amanda Milling MP, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party said: “The Conservative Party has accepted all the recommendations set out by the independent investigation into racism and discrimination. Any incident of discrimination is wrong, and we must work harder to stamp out discrimination of all kinds. We held this investigation because we are determined to right these wrongs. On behalf of the Conservative Party, I would like to apologise to anyone who has been hurt by the discriminatory behaviour of others or failed by our system. We held this investigation to address these allegations to make sure that any instances of discrimination are isolated and to look at how we can improve and strengthen our complaints process. The Conservative Party will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination of any kind and take immediate action to improve our handling of complaints." Meanwhile, Professor Swaran Singh, former equality and human rights commissioner, analysed 1,418 complaints relating to 727 separate incidents as recorded in the Tories' complaints database between 2015 and 2020. In a 44,000-word report on his findings, he said: "Judging by the extent of complaints and findings of misconduct by the party itself that relates to anti-Muslim words and conduct, anti-Muslim sentiment remains a problem within the party. This is damaging to the party, and alienates a significant section of society."