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The government has announced a new definition of anti-Muslim hate that includes violence, harassment and prejudicial stereotyping – as it insisted the move will not curtail free speech.
Ministers say it is a working definition and a “tool for government and organisations to better understand, measure, prevent and address anti-Muslim hostility”.
Crucially, the definition is non-statutory – meaning it is advisory and has no legal backing.
Discrimination of someone due to their religion or belief is already unlawful under the Equality Act.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed told MPs that ministers had a duty to act against record levels of hate crime against Muslims, but that “you can’t tackle a problem if you can’t describe it”.
He also denied the definition would interfere with freedom of speech or create “blasphemy laws by the back door”.
Hate crimes against Muslims reported to police in England and Wales rose by almost a fifth in the year ending March 2025, to 3,199 offences.
The figure does not include incidents reported to Metropolitan Police due to changes in its recording system.
Jewish people faced the highest rate of hate crimes, according to the government figures, with 106 incidents per 10,000 population.
Muslims were second, with 12 per 10,000 population.
In February last year the government set up a working group, led by former Tory minister Dominic Grieve, to come up with a definition of anti-Muslim hatred or Islamophobia.
But Sky News learnt in October that ministers were moving away from the word “Islamophobia” and towards “anti-Muslim hostility”.
Alongside the new definition, ministers have set out an accompanying text which says freedom of speech and expression are protected by law, which includes criticising or ridiculing a belief, including Islam.
“Portraying it in a manner that some of its adherents might find disrespectful or scandalous,” is also legal, the text says.
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