Antisemitic Attacks

Lord Grade of Yarmouth Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend and I am also grateful for her work in supporting the Jewish community locally. It is vital that all of us in society, from whichever faith or none, support action against antisemitism and show solidarity with the Jewish community.

I refer my noble friend again to the social cohesion strategy that we have put in place. It looks at funding £800 million-worth of activity. Importantly, it has highlighted 40 key neighbourhoods where we need to work on social cohesion much more effectively and it is putting in resources to do that. I know that my noble friend will want to monitor the performance of that strategy, but I think it is a very good start. We continue to look at the challenges and will continue to learn lessons from how social cohesion operates at local level to look at how we can extend that to help support other communities where that social cohesion may not be as strong.

[Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I also thank the Minister for his support of the Jewish community and his keen understanding of what the Jewish community in this country is going through at the moment. There is no possibility of underestimating the complexity of this problem; we are all struggling with it. I offer the Minister one small, practical suggestion. There are venues and institutions—some public and some private—that are refusing Jewish performers and exhibitions. Anything remotely connected to Jewishness is being refused entry or permission to appear at these institutions, some of which are publicly funded and some licensed by local authorities.

They hide behind the issue of security, which is a real concern. Nevertheless, we are very proud in this country that we have always said—and we have been sorely tested—that we do not succumb to terrorism. This is very much an issue of these little institutions around the country succumbing to terrorists’ views and hiding behind the security issue. That is not right. It is something that the Government could address. It is also prevalent in our educational institutions, with speakers being cancelled and so on. That would be a small, practical step, but a signal that the Government are able to take action.