Government vows to protect British Muslims with new £117m package to beef up mosque and school security
11 March 2024, 00:01 | Updated: 11 March 2024, 00:03
The Government is set to pump £117m of taxpayer cash into protections for British mosques, Muslim schools and centres against hate attacks.
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The money, which will be delivered over four years, will be spent on CCTV camera, alarms and fencing to protect British Muslims amid a rise in attacks after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
The package is similar to an earlier announcement of a £70million security boost for British Jews who have also been targeted in the wake of the war's beginning on October 7.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said the money would give "reassurance and confidence to UK Muslims".
The Government condemned a recent rise in reported anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hatred and ministers have made it clear they expect the police to fully investigate all hate crimes and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to bring perpetrators to justice.
Mr Cleverly said: "Anti-Muslim hatred has absolutely no place in our society.
"We will not let events in the Middle East be used as an excuse to justify abuse against British Muslims.
"The Prime Minister has made clear that we stand with Muslims in the UK.
"That is exactly why we have committed to this funding, giving reassurance and confidence to UK Muslims at a time when it is crucially needed."
The funding forms part of a package of support to provide reassurance that anti-Muslim abuse, threats or harassment or any form of hate crime will not be tolerated.
But a plan to announce a new adviser on tackling anti-Muslim hate suffered a setback when the frontrunner pulled out because of the volume of vile abuse he had suffered.
Fiyaz Mughal, who founded the anti-Muslim hate monitoring organisation Tell MAMA, said he had suffered over a decade of abuse for his work and when his name was publicly linked to the adviser role it escalated and "I couldn't take it any more".
The £117 million over the next four years follows £29.4 million available for 2023-24, which included £4.9 million allocated following the October 7
Hamas attack on Israel which triggered the latest round of fighting in Gaza.
The announcement, which comes at the start of Ramadan, will cover community sites across the UK.
The funding package is bigger than that given to the Community Security Trust to cover Jewish facilities because of the higher Muslim population and a larger number of sites to cover.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat said: "This funding demonstrates that this government stands firmly against hate crimes, abuse, threats or harassment against British Muslims.
"We continue to work closely with policing and community partners to ensure the safety and security of British Muslims."
