Outgoing Muslim Council of Britain leader Zara Mohammed criticises lack of government contact

However, under consecutive governments, that engagement was broken again. In 2018, when asked about Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, then Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the government did not engage with MCB as “too many of their members have had favourable comments on extremists and that’s not acceptable” – claims the MCB vehemently denied at the time.

For Ms Mohammed, there were hopes that engagement would be renewed when Labour entered government last year as she described “strong” and “positive” relationships with Labour MPs. However, the policy of non-engagement has continued without any explanation.

She said this was having a “terrible impact” on communities who “do not feel Islamophobia is being taken seriously”. “At least have a conversation about it, but to not say anything and not tell us why? Surely what happened 14 years ago cannot be the justification.

“What is the issue now? We’re not illegal, we’re not proscribed. We do not harbour any extremist views. We have a broad-based demographic of British Muslims,” she added.

A spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) confirmed there had been no change to the policy of non-engagement with MCB but did not detail why.

“All forms of religious and racial hatred have absolutely no place in our society,” the spokesperson said. “The government engages regularly with faith communities to help foster strong working relationships and we are exploring a more integrated and cohesive approach to tackling racial and religious hatred, including Islamophobia.”

Various government departments engage with faith organisations, external to discuss relevant issues and policy, including on the Covid-19 pandemic and tackling hate crime.

The rise in Islamophobia has personally affected Ms Mohammed, who faces frequent abuse online. She was also the victim of a hate incident on the London Underground by a man who used offensive language.

“I’ve definitely got more of a fear of my personal security than I’ve ever had before,” she said. “There’s been an onslaught of far-right, thuggish, anti-Islam, quite disgusting, really awful graphic content that’s posted on my account.”