Manchester Terrorism Attack

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The Department for Education and the Secretary of State for Education have already made funding available to schools to tackle antisemitism in the classroom, and to educate teachers about the best way to handle conversations on the subject. I am sure that she will say more about that when she is next before the House for oral questions. My hon. Friend should rest assured that we recognise that antisemitism is a society-wide problem. Colleagues in the Department of Health are taking action, particularly around the regulation of doctors, to ensure that our national health service is a safe space for patients of every background, including Jewish patients. There has been work not just in the Department for Education, but in other Departments; there needs to be a whole-Government response, because this is a whole-society problem.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

In the wake of the terrorist attack in Heaton Park, I am very proud to say that Belmont shul, in my constituency, hosted a Shabbat service following a meeting of the Harrow Interfaith council at which representatives of all religions stood together with the Jewish community to say that hatred will not be allowed to win.

On the previous Friday, however, I was horrified to receive frantic phone calls, just before Shabbat started, saying that none of the synagogues had had contact from the police about what would happen the following day. After some frantic phone calls, the police said, “We can do drive-bys and various other things, but we can’t have a permanent presence at the shuls on Shabbat.” The reason was the Palestine Action demonstration in central London, at which the police knew they would have to arrest perpetrators supporting proscribed organisations.

My constituents, and those across London, are fed up with paying for these hate marches and hate demonstrations to take place. In addition to changing the routes, the meeting places and the times that these demonstrations can take place, how about another suggestion? If people want to organise these hate demonstrations, let them have the bill for the policing.

[Shabana Mahmood]

I assure the hon. Gentleman that I am considering all the recommendations made by advisers to both our Administration and the previous Conservative Administration. I understand the call for protesters to pay. One of the difficulties is with implementation, rather than a disagreement on the substance of that issue. It is one of the things I will be looking at in the wider review I am doing.

It is important that whatever action we take does not create more work for policing, which is why I have already had discussions with senior police officers across the country about what we should do going forward. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I will review those measures very carefully, bearing in mind all the previous reports that have been written. I will ensure that the framework we are left with is robust and capable of being policed properly, and has the confidence of both the police and communities. It is important that, whatever we do, we have the resources to meet that.

If the hon. Gentleman writes to me on the specifics of what happened with synagogues in his constituency, I will ensure that he gets a proper response.