Antisemitism on University Campuses

Lord Bishop of Manchester Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I reassure my noble friend that I read her foreword too; I did not just focus on that of the noble Lord, Lord Finkelstein. She is absolutely right to draw attention to this, and I urge people to use BBC Sounds to listen to the debate and discussions on the radio. The Government are not at all complacent; I have already indicated the specific actions we will take, which included my noble friend Lady Smith hosting a round table to bring together Ministers from the Home Office and MHCLG with Jewish community stakeholders, including Jewish students. We are trying to bring people together to ensure that specific action is taken.

I also reassure my noble friend Lady Berger that condition of registration E6, introduced by the Office for Students on 1 August last year, requires English universities to publish and implement comprehensive policies to prevent, investigate and tackle incidents of harassment against students. It is vital this work continues, but my noble friend is right that we have to draw attention to the rise of antisemitism.

[The Lord Bishop of Manchester]

My Lords, this has been a significant issue in Manchester for all my time as Bishop and I am glad we are having this chance to consider it. What assessment is being made of the extent to which external actors—we have heard about university lecturers, but maybe even foreign Governments—are fuelling this? To what extent can the multifaith chaplaincy teams that many of our universities have be part of the means of addressing it?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

The right reverend Prelate raises a really important point. After the outrageous events in Manchester, my right honourable friend Bridget Phillipson wrote to all universities, drawing attention to their responsibility to address this issue. Our universities have a world-class reputation, which makes them a prime target for foreign states and hostile actors that seek to erode their reputation by shaping or censoring what universities can offer, as we are seeing at this moment. We are tackling that threat by investing £3 million to bolster existing support and access to expert advice on national security risk management, including a new academic interference reporting route and new guidance.