Overview

• In a legal opinion commissioned by the Free Speech Union, Tom Cross KC said it is reasonable to expect an official definition could be invoked to resist police and security investigations of Muslims and influence how harassment and hate‑crime laws are applied, including the current reasonableness defence.
• A government spokesman rejected the analysis as speculation and said no definition of anti‑Muslim hatred would be accepted if it impeded investigations or arrests.
• A source close to Communities Secretary Steve Reed said free speech would be protected and there would be no back‑door blasphemy laws.
• Tory shadow equalities minister Claire Coutinho argued the plan risks granting a special status that suppresses debate and warned grooming gangs could act with impunity, a claim she linked to wider concerns about censorship.
• Labour has tasked the Grieve‑led working group with proposing the definition after earlier controversy over the consultation process, and a Labour source dismissed the legal concerns as nonsense from an activist lawyer.