Commenting on June 8 general election outcome and the news of British PM Theresa May attempting to form a government with the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), as well as the rise of the Corbyn’s Labour, Dilly Hussain, journalist for 5Pillars, Britain's biggest Muslim and opinion website, told Sputnik:
"It's too early to say anything — Muslims have put a lot behind Jeremy Corbyn, a refreshing principled individual. But also how many mistakes will Corbyn make? It's one thing being a radical backbencher, but he is no longer a radical backbencher. He spoke about extremism and nothing on Palestine, so there is a question on how many U-turns he will make to ease relations within his party. This is a legitimate question that the Muslim community is asking."
Mr. Aman Ali is one of regional directors of the Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), a not-for-profit organization that helps to empower and encourage British Muslims within local communities to be more actively involved in British media and politics. He told Sputnik that the Muslim community had several concerns prior to the election, one of which was the government's anti-terrorism Prevent strategy.
Prevent is aimed at engagement with the community and institutions to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It is aimed at identifying those in danger of being radicalized and supporting them. However, Mr. Ali said that some British Muslims believe the strategy has been unfairly profiling members of the Muslim community in the UK.
In the wake of the latest terror attacks in Manchester and London that have been inspired by Islamic extremism, the spotlight has fallen on British Muslim community with reports of growing incidents of hate crimes committed against its members.
#Londonvigil kicks off in Potter's Field, crowds pay tribute to #LondonTerrorAttack victims and injured https://t.co/GqVnWcWsQg pic.twitter.com/GpnszQ7KgU
— Sputnik UK (@SputnikNewsUK) June 5, 2017
"Theresa May mentioned Islamic terrorism in her speech. Many Muslims voted for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, mainly because we wanted the Prevent strategy scrapped. However that will no longer happen. The second issue is the fact the Conservative government want to remove the Human Rights Act. This is a huge concern for Muslims, Mr. Ali told Sputnik.
We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are when it comes to Islamist extremism. These 4 things need to change: pic.twitter.com/e7bGtYxq2U
— Theresa May (@theresa_may) June 6, 2017
Mr. Hussain believes that in the snap election Theresa May made a huge mistake and the person who gained the most is Jeremy Corbyn. Commenting on the opinions circulating within the Muslim communities across the country, he said:
"The overall number of British Muslims voted for Labour and they historically vote Labour. Things changed however after the Iraq war, that was a defining moment. But Muslims remain Labour and that's the consistent theme and it's generally down to the fact they are working class people."
