What happened to the promised UK Muslim war memorial?

In July last year, Sir William Blackburne, trustee of the memorial trust, contacted the Department for Communities and Local Government to find out whether the new government was committed to the memorial.

The department said “officials are working at pace with [the minister] to determine how we will move forward with a War Memorial”.

The trust took this as welcome confirmation that the new Labour government did intend to honour the previous government’s commitment to make a grant available to help fund a Muslim war memorial, even if it was not confirmation the memorial would definitely go ahead.

Over the following months Sir William continued to press for a decision and whether the £1m was still available.

In November 2024, the department said that it remained “committed to providing funding of up to £1m”, and officials were working on taking the matter forward. The following month, an exercise to gather information about suppliers was launched, which the trust responded to.

But by May this year, nothing had happened.

Sir William emailed again to ask about progress, but the response again was that no decision had yet been made. Sir William now says: “Silence reigns.”

“The issue is not that the government is obliged to support the trust’s memorial,” Sir William says.

“It is when we can expect a decision whether it will provide any financial support and, if so, how much and on what terms. On that hangs how we approach others to give to the project.”

In response to Sir William emailing again about the progress of the memorial in August, the government told him that they are “still exploring plans to provide financial support of up to £1m”.