Business of the House

Shockat Adam Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

Food poverty remains a huge blight on our country. This Government are absolutely committed to tackling it, which is why we have extended free breakfast clubs and introduced this huge expansion in free school meals, which is something I am sure we can all be proud of. I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue.

[Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)]

In the month of August alone, across our country mosques as well as women, children and families have been subjected to unacceptable levels of Islamophobic abuse and attacks—from a young Muslim mother with her young child being abused in a park in Yorkshire for simply wearing a niqab, to a young autistic man in Manchester being threatened to have his throat slit and told to go to his mosque. Does the Leader of the House agree that some language and rhetoric used by some Members both in this Chamber and in some media outlets fuel this hatred on the streets? Given the ever-increasing number of attacks, will she remind Members of our responsibility in our use of language, and will she urge the Government to expediate the ongoing consultation and urgently adopt a robust definition of Islamophobia?

[Lucy Powell]

The rise in Islamophobia, which we have all seen in our constituencies—I know I have seen it in mine—is absolutely unacceptable. Hate crime itself is unacceptable, and we need to call it out and root it out. We have the independent working group, which is soon to advise Ministers on the definition of Islamophobia, and we have a wider action plan to tackle the issues. The hon. Member is right to say that we should all be mindful of the language we use and the impact it might have.