As Lee Anderson doubles down on his controversial comments made over the weekend [1], when he claimed “Islamists” had got “control” over London and that the mayor, Sadiq Khan had “given our capital city away to his mates”, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, said:
“It is deeply concerning that neither Rishi Sunak nor his deputy have felt able to condemn the obnoxious Islamophobic remarks made by Lee Anderson, that mirrored remarks made earlier by the Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
“It is worth noting that the comments made by Anderson came on the same day that Tell MAMA, a national service supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate, announced that there had been a 335% increase in anti-Muslim hate cases since October 7 last year [2].
“It is frankly sickening that the extreme right of the Conservative Party are inflaming already ignited community tensions.
“Sunak needs to recall his pledge to act with integrity and challenge the divisive and dangerous rhetoric being used by some of his MPs.
“We need our leaders to work for unity rather than creating division. For some time, senior Conservative Muslims have been raising concerns about the extent of Islamophobia in their party and criticizing the failure of the leadership to tackle it. Sunak needs to make clear that there is no place for such views in his party, and to instigate an immediate review of Islamophobia.”
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