Equi Report Launch at the Labour Party Conference 2024

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Author: Sofiah Shah

Published on: September 27, 2024

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I’ve been working at Equi as a Researcher since July 2024. This is my first role after graduating from the University of Cambridge this year. Since joining Equi I’ve felt hugely motivated by the chance to help drive meaningful change in the UK, by influencing public policy. Working with Sinan Siyech, our Senior Researcher and the broader Equi team, the publishing of this major report marks the culmination of months of hard work, and I am delighted to share my reflections following its launch.

We hosted a private dinner at the Labour Party annual conference on Sunday 22nd September in Liverpool, bringing together MPs, civil society leaders and philanthropists with the Minister for Faith and Communities as our Chief Guest. It proved to be an inspiring and thought-provoking discussion on the report: The Economic Contribution of British Muslims to the UK’s Growth and Prosperity and Risk of Exodus. (Linked)

After many late-night research sessions, I felt a great sense of achievement to see the report launched. I was delighted to hear from our esteemed gathering all-round commendation of the report as a powerful piece of work which will help add balance to how Muslims are portrayed in the UK. I was very grateful for the discussion and insights received during our presentation.

At Equi, we strive to ensure the words we publish are translated into real public policy change, and we have been engaging with a range of advocates to translate our policy recommendations into action. Our attendees from Government included Lord Wajid Khan of Burnley (Minister for Faith, Communities and Resettlement at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) as well as: Afzal Khan CBE (MP for Manchester Rusholme); Laura Kyrke-Smith (MP for Aylesbury) and Yasmin Qureshi (MP for Bolton South and Walkden). Cllr Aalaina Khan (of Bolton Council) and Cllr Waseem Zaffar MBE (of Birmingham Council) represented local government interests. We were also joined by Nasir Awan MBE DL (President of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce) and Shahinoor Alom (Deputy Secretary General, Muslim Council of Wales), and from the NGO world Halima Begum (CEO of Oxfam), Shazia Arshad (Head of Communications at Islamic Relief UK) and Imran Sanaullah (CEO of Adam Foundation).

Our headline findings captured everyone’s interest:

  • British Muslims generate £70bn for the UK’s economy;
  • Vital public service like NHS, education and transport rely heavily on Muslim employees;
  • British Muslims are over four times more generous than the average UK community in their giving to charity;
  • The British Islamic Banking industry holds 85% of assets in the European Islamic Market, worth nearly £6bn;
  • The UK Halal lifestyles market is growing rapidly and already stands at £2bn a year.

We also shared our findings on the risk of exodus of this community:

  • British Muslims are 50% more likely to want to leave the UK than others, and if followed through this would create a loss of at least £1.1bn a year in economic contribution;
  • British Muslims are three times more likely to cite religious discrimination as a reason for leaving the UK;
  • Affluent British Muslims earning over £62k a year are much more likely to to take concrete steps to leave the UK.

Our policy recommendations were of particular interest due to their constructive cross departmental approach, with their intention of benefiting all UK citizens.

I thoroughly valued meeting everyone on the day to discuss our new report, and thank every attendee for their time, company and insights.

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