Campaigners have welcomed the decision of South Wales Police to drop a policy requiring officers to record "hostility" towards Muslims.
The police force put forward guidance on “anti-Muslim hostility” that instructed officers to record any conversations about Islam that went beyond what it called “legitimate” discussion.
The implementation of the guidance has officially been paused following an intervention by Conservative Shadow Cabinet member Claire Coutinho and the Free Speech Union (FSU), which was founded by Conservative peer Lord Young.
Coutinho referred South Wales Police to the Equality and Human Rights Commission over the policy, while the FSU threatened a judicial review if the guidance was implemented. The FSU accused South Wales Police of effectively imposing their own "Islamic blasphemy law".
According to the FSU the guidance could have led to criticism of Islam being labelled “anti-social behaviour” and could even show up on DBS checks, potentially preventing a person from getting a job as a teacher or carer.
While officially the implementation of the guidance has been paused, the FSU says it believes the idea will quietly be shelved.
In a video posted on X, Lord Young said, “We thought it was plainly unlawful to issue this guidance and we were willing to go to court to prove that.” Lord Young added that it would challenge any other police force that considered similar measures.
Christian writer Tim Dieppe welcomed the decision of South Wales Police to back down, writing on X, “Good that the police have dropped this. They should never have thought this was the right thing to do in the first place. We need the police to protect free speech - not restrict it.”
Commenting on the U-turn, Coutinho said, “No religion should be protected from criticism in this country. Now it's on the Government to repeal their Islamophobia definition and stop this happening again.”
Dieppe has previously argued that the government’s controversial new definition of "anti-Muslim hostility" effectively provides special protections to Islam not afforded to other religions. Apologist David Robertson said he feared the definition would result in prosecutions.
