STATEMENT
The Muslim Council of Britain expressed its alarm about the scale of Islamophobia in parts of British society today, as revealed in a University of Birmingham survey carried out by YouGov.
The survey, presented in a report titled ‘The Dinner Table Prejudice: Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain‘, states that Muslims are the UK’s second ‘least liked’ group, after Gypsy and Irish Travellers. It also reveals that the British public is almost three times more likely to hold prejudiced views of Islam than they are of other religions.
As the Conservative Party once again is under scrutiny for institutional Islamophobia, the survey also revealed that “more than one in four people, and nearly half of Conservative and Leave voters, hold conspiratorial views about Sharia ‘no-go areas’.”
Reacting to the report, Zara Mohammed, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said:
“The findings from the University of Birmingham demonstrate how pervasive Islamophobia is in Britain today. As we have seen with the latest revelations of Islamophobia in our ruling party, it exists amongst those who make a difference in our lives.
Much of the prejudice is underpinned by lack of understanding or willful misrepresentation. We must all redouble our efforts to challenge Islamophobia; that includes Muslim communities continuing to open our hearts and doors to our neighbours and the wider community, to show them what we are all about, and not what divisive figures would have us be.”
The University of Birmingham’s survey can be found here. It interviewed a sample of 1667 people between 20th and 21st July 2021 which was weighted by age, gender, social grade, voting record, region and level of education to ensure representativeness. Weighting was based on the census, Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics estimates, and other large-scale data sources.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Latest MCB statement on institutional Islamophobia in the Conservative party (23rd January 2022) – see here.
- Previous MCB statement on Islamophobia in the Conservative party: Singh Investigation Confirms Scale of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party but Fails to Address Root Causes
- The MCB has submitted two dossiers to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), detailing incidences of Islamophobia in the Conservative party: see May 2019 dossier and March 2020 dossier
- 100s of mosques have supported call for inquiry on Islamophobia in the Conservative party – see here.
- Please see Appendix 3 of the report for the MCB’s views shared with the Singh Review.
- The Muslim Council of Britain is the country’s largest representative body of mosques and Islamic associations.
Photograph: Birmingham University