[Image: Guru Nanak Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) Thornaby vandalised with Islamophobic graffiti ‘Die Muslims Die’ in 2015]

Agreeing with the thrust of her question, Lord Singh said: ‘Lady Warsi, has rightly drawn our attention to the vagueness of the term Islamophobia. I add a point that concerns me: the culture of victimhood that it can easily lead to, which is not very healthy.’

’Making reference to research conducted by the NSO, he went on: ‘There is also the way in which figures for crimes against other people are included in the statistics for Islamophobia—up to one-third, according to a freedom of information requests. But the greatest concern is that this sort of thing does not really tackle the underlying issue of hate crime, which arises out of ignorance and prejudice. It is there at all levels of society, and we are doing very little to combat it.’