Yesterday the Electoral Commission announced that Britain First was allowed to, again, be an official political party.
Its application was approved by the commission four years after it was deregistered for failing to renew its registration on time.
I announced the news in horror to my husband in total shock by this. How have we arrived here? In the wake of Brexit and then the aftermath of George Floyd, how is it possible that we are in a place where the Far Right have become even more emboldened?
As a visibly Muslim woman wearing the hijab, I find the rhetoric and vitriol which Britain First use to gather and garner support incredibly offensive and frightening. Actually, I find that their stance overtly incites hatred against Muslims and Islam in the UK.
I am absolutely gobsmacked that a party with such views and ideologies has been allowed to stand as an official political party, potentially allowing for members of parliament to espouse these views in the Commons. As far as I am concerned, they are in breach of laws criminalising incitement of hatred based on race or religion in the UK.
My reaction differs greatly from my husband's; he suggested that I shouldn't be surprised in this post-Brexit world. We are fully aware that hate crimes against people who are considered immigrants or different due to race or religion spiked after the 2016 referendum. Brexit benefitted from the othering of people, and Britain First does the same.
I have been the victim of hate crimes previously and feel as though in recent times, since Brexit, hate crimes and abuse have amplified.
My biggest concern is that by allowing Britain First to have a such a platform from which to voice these discriminatory and hateful ideologies against Muslims in particular, I fear that once again my family and I will be on the receiving end of this action.
Britain First previously stated the following regarding Muslims and Islam existing in Europe: “There is a cancer moving through Europe and that is Islam. Our children are being bombed, our children are being groomed and our government does nothing … Evil will not prevail.”
Their ideologies, their hate speech, their rhetoric against Islam and Muslims have now been legitimised and made official and as a visibly Muslim woman, this frightens me to my very core.
