The UK Conservative Party has released new details on Tuesday for the inquiry into the party's handling of internal discrimination allegations.
An outline of the "terms of reference" for the independent investigation has been published on the party's website, establishing the scope of the inquiry and the issues that it will take into consideration.
The party explained that the inquiry would examine the "nature and extent" of complaints since 2015 as well as what sanctions could be taken against members who quit the party before being investigated.
Despite the review being launched in December after Boris Johnson committed to looking into allegations of Islamophobia within the party and the specific pledges to investigate allegations of discrimination against Muslims, other forms of harassment or victimisation will also be included in the considerations.
Conservative co-chairman Amanda Milling described the release of the terms of reference for the review as a "positive step forward" and added that the party "will never stand by when it comes to prejudice and discrimination of any kind".
"The Conservative Party is committed to ensuring everyone's rights are respected and everyone is treated with fairness and dignity", she added.
The investigation will be led by Professor Swaran Singh, at the University of Warwick, an appointment that has drawn criticism from former Conservative Party chairwoman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
"The Runnymede Trust [a race equality think tank] encapsulated it when they said he is somebody who believes racism is a contested term and that institutional racism simply doesn't exist", she told BBC Politics in December following Singh's appointment.
The scope of the inquiry has also been criticised by the Muslim Council of Britain, which accused the Conservative Party of "deceiving" the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), describing the released terms of reference for the investigation as a "facade".
Despite the party's claim to recognise allegations that there had "been a failure by the Party to investigate such complaints adequately or at all", the Muslim umbrella group said that by only investigating complaints, the party is failing to tackle the issue of systematic discrimination in the party.
"In reality the majority of the issue has already been dismissed", said Harun Khan, the group's secretary-general.
"By restricting the terms to an inquiry merely into the complaints received, the party is choosing to summarily dismiss all the issues of the toxic culture of racism that have been raised by the Muslim Council of Britain."
We have previously described the Conservative party’s attitude to Islamophobia as one of denial, dismissal and deceit. It seems even today, the Conservative party refuses to acknowledge that there can be bigotry and prejudice directed at Muslims. https://t.co/CyiZodfGD3
— MCB (@MuslimCouncil) May 12, 2020
The EHRC is not leading the investigation but will be overseeing it. The equalities watchdog also did not "rule out" initiating its own review "if we are not satisfied with progress".
"We have concluded, in the light of the decision by the party to institute an independent investigation, that it would not be proportionate to initiate our own investigation at this stage", an EHRC spokesperson said.
The watchdog is currently investigating anti-Semitism allegations within the Labour Party.
