On Monday 20 January 2025, Angela Rayner’s department answered my FOI request about its position towards the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). The MCB has been cut off by government for years and has a troubling history. But the Deputy Prime Minister is withholding correspondence and documents she confirms exist about the organisation. Well-placed sources have told Nick Timothy MP of correspondence within Whitehall, including with No10, in which it was suggested that the Government should restore links with the MCB. And there is pressure from within the Labour Party and beyond to restore relations. So Nick asked a Home Office minister about this topic in the House of Commons on Tuesday 21 January. Here is the question and the response.
Nick Timothy, MP for West Suffolk: I will have a go at getting an answer from the Minister, even if he did not answer the questions of my hon. Friend the Member for Weald of Kent (Katie Lam) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson). Yesterday, the Department confirmed in answer to a freedom of information request that there is internal Government correspondence about the Muslim Council of Britain that it refuses to publish. Can the Minister overturn that decision, publish the papers and confirm that there have been no discussions and no correspondence within Whitehall proposing re-engagement with the MCB?
Alex Norris MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Democracy and Local Growth): I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the position has not moved. I have previously stated in answer to written questions that we are not meeting the Muslim Council of Britain. [Hon. Members: “Say it again!”] I am not sure I can say it any more clearly than at the Dispatch Box in the Chamber of the House of Commons. The position has not changed from the previous Government.
