That Tahir Ali, a backbench Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, could stand up in the House of Commons and openly demand the reintroduction of blasphemy laws to “prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions” was disgraceful enough. What was even worse was Keir Starmer’s pedestrian response that “desecration is awful” and that his government was “committed to tackling all forms of hatred and division”, rather than bluntly answering the question with a simple and firm no. Blasphemy laws have no place in a liberal democracy – as we claim to be – and his party shouldn’t countenance them.
This wasn’t even the first time a MP has called for blasphemy laws in Parliament in recent years. In 2021, Naz Shah called for punishment to be dished out to those who “defame, slander or abuse our Prophet”. And Ali’s intervention was did not occur without a context. Britain has not had de jure blasphemy laws since 2008 (though they still exist in Northern Ireland). Yet, we do operate under a creeping de facto blasphemy taboo thanks to a series of outrages involving intimidation and threats of violence.
Content from our partners
