Burnham Brands Rivals ‘Unacceptable’ at Muslim Leaders Meeting as £970,000 Memorial Award Nears

News | By Matt, Editor

Andy Burnham used his first Downing Street roundtable with Muslim community leaders to brand the positions of opposition parties “completely unacceptable”. At the same meeting he talked about a national Muslim war memorial that taxpayers will fund with up to £970,000. (GB News; LBC)

The Prime Minister hosted the meeting at No 10 on Tuesday, 27 October, alongside Housing and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner. According to Muslim News, Ms Rayner told the room that the government’s new adviser on anti-Muslim hostility would be named “later this week”. (Muslim News)

The meeting comes seven months after Labour adopted an official definition of “anti-Muslim hostility”. Free speech campaigners are already fighting that definition, and they warn the new adviser post could put criticism of Islam in the firing line.

Have your sayTap to comment

What Burnham said

Speaking around the Cabinet table, Mr Burnham told the guests:

We want to counter any form of hatred, discrimination, Islamophobia, wherever we find it and work with you to bring forward an agenda that says that to the community.

Andy Burnham, 27 October 2026, as reported by GB News

He then turned to his political opponents. “Angela referenced some of the positions of opposition parties to us anyway, they are completely unacceptable,” he said. “And some of the language that they use about the community is unacceptable.”

He did not name a party. GB News read the remarks as a veiled swipe at Nigel Farage. LBC reported the same words and quoted him promising there would not be “another decade of division like the one we’ve lived through”. (LBC)

Mr Burnham closed by saying he wanted to be “a Prime Minister that is alongside the community, visibly so”, sending a message “particularly to younger Muslims across Britain, that this is their country”.

BBN could not find a No 10 readout of the meeting on GOV.UK by the early hours of Wednesday. The quotes above come from the GB News and LBC reports.

The £970,000 memorial

GB News reported that Mr Burnham spoke about “Labour’s proposal to build a Muslim war memorial at the cost of almost £1million”. The official figure is up to £970,000 of public money. (MHCLG prospectus)

The idea did not start with Labour. In his Spring Budget on 6 March 2024, Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he had “decided to allocate £1m towards the cost of building one”. He said the decision followed representations from the MP for Bromsgrove, then Sajid Javid. (HM Treasury)

Labour kept the money. On 27 May 2026 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) opened a competition for an organisation to design and build “a first-of-its-kind national Muslim War Memorial”. (GOV.UK) The government’s prospectus sets out the money:

• Up to £950,000 in capital funding: £150,000 in 2026/27 and £800,000 in 2027/28.
• Up to £20,000 in revenue funding, £10,000 a year.
• A single award, chosen by competition. Applications closed on 21 July 2026.
• Outcomes are due “approximately” on 30 October 2026, this Friday.
• The memorial must be finished by 31 December 2028.

Funding beyond 2026/27 is “subject to the availability of funds and confirmation through MHCLG’s future budget allocations”. Eligible costs include design fees, consultancy and buying a site. The money comes from an MHCLG grant, not from the Imperial War Museums or the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. (MHCLG) In a Lords answer in July, ministers confirmed the “up to £970,000” figure. (HL1527)

The sacrifice behind the memorial is real. The government says an estimated 400,000 Muslims served in the First World War alone. Among them was Khudadad Khan, the first Muslim to win the Victoria Cross.

The adviser and the definition

According to LBC, Mr Burnham also pointed to plans to appoint an “anti-Muslim hostility adviser”. GB News called it an “adviser on Muslim affairs”. (LBC; GB News)

The post comes from Labour’s action plan of 9 March 2026, launched by the then Communities Secretary Steve Reed. It said “a special representative on anti-Muslim hostility will also be appointed”. (GOV.UK) The same plan adopted a “non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility”. (GOV.UK)

The work began under Ms Rayner. On 28 February 2025, as Deputy Prime Minister, she launched a working group on a definition of anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia, chaired by former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve KC. (GOV.UK) GB News says she “faced fury for her push to establish an Islamophobia definition”.

The government says the definition protects free speech. Its guidance says it is “non-statutory and must not be confused with legislation”. It lists “criticisms of a religion or belief, including Islam” and “ridiculing or insulting a religion or belief, including Islam” as protected expression. (GOV.UK; MHCLG blog)

The free speech warnings

Critics are not reassured. Their main warnings:

• February 2025: Former Labour MP Khalid Mahmood and counter-extremism campaigner Haras Rafiq warned that a definition could be “weaponised”. Mr Rafiq said a broad, non-legally binding definition “risks creating a chilling effect on free speech”. (The Telegraph, 28 February 2025)
• 16 March 2026: The Free Speech Union launched a legal challenge. It said the definition “amounts to a Muslim blasphemy law via the back door — 18 years after Parliament voted to abolish such laws”. (Free Speech Union) It sent a pre-action letter to Mr Reed on 19 March. (FSU)
• March 2026: The FSU quoted former Equality and Human Rights Commission chair Baroness Falkner, writing in The Times. She called the plan “a two-tier policy” and “a key step towards a blasphemy law”. (FSU)
• 9 October 2026: Reform UK Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick said: “An Islamophobia definition will be chilling for free speech. I’ll continue to fight it, as I have for many years.” (Reform UK; BBN)

Free Speech Union general secretary Lord Young of Acton has warned that “tens of thousands of people a year could lose their jobs at the say-so of a Labour-appointed ‘tsar’”. (FSU) BBN has also reported on questions over the papers behind the definition. (BBN)

The Reform row

Mr Burnham’s remarks follow months of Labour attacks on Reform over Islam. On 27 May 2026, 27 MPs asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate alleged Islamophobia in Reform UK. They were 26 Labour MPs and the independent MP Diane Abbott. (The Independent; BBN)

The letter was coordinated by Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Rusholme. “Reform UK have consistently failed to tackle their growing Islamophobia problem,” he said. The comments listed included Mr Farage’s call to ban mass religious observances after a Ramadan event in Trafalgar Square.

Reform hit back. According to Sky News, as reported by The Independent, a Reform spokesperson said: “We stand by our comments. We will not be intimidated.” (The Independent) GB News reported that “Reform UK rejects all accusations of Islamophobia.”

The hate crime figures

Home Office figures published on 8 October 2026 show that police in England and Wales recorded 5,132 religious hate crimes targeting Muslims in the year to March 2026. That was up 15 per cent from 4,479 and made up 46 per cent of religious hate crimes where the targeted religion was recorded. (Home Office)

Hate crimes targeting Jewish people rose 10 per cent, to 3,162. Jewish people had by far the highest rate of any religious group: 117 offences per 10,000 people, against 13 per 10,000 for Muslims. The Home Office linked a spike in anti-Muslim offences in September 2025 to “a number of protests and incidents of public disorder”.

Has anyone responded?

Some attendees welcomed the meeting. Baroness Shaista Gohir of the Muslim Women’s Network UK told Muslim News it “felt authentic”. The Muslim Council of Britain said engagement “must go further” and include “democratic, representative voices”. Muslim News added that the government “has yet to set out the adviser’s remit”. (Muslim News)

BBN found no public response from Reform UK or Mr Farage to Tuesday’s remarks by the time of publication. No 10 had not published a readout. BBN will update this story if either does.

Key facts

• Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner hosted Muslim community leaders at No 10 on Tuesday, 27 October 2026. (LBC)
• Mr Burnham called opposition parties’ positions “completely unacceptable” and said “some of the language that they use about the community is unacceptable”.
• The national Muslim War Memorial has up to £970,000 of MHCLG funding, with the award due around 30 October 2026. (MHCLG)
• The original £1m was allocated by Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in March 2024. (HM Treasury)
• Labour adopted a non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility on 9 March 2026 and plans a special representative. (GOV.UK)
• The Free Speech Union has launched a legal challenge against the definition. (FSU)
• 27 MPs asked the EHRC to investigate Reform UK in May 2026. Reform said it would “not be intimidated”. (The Independent)

Verdict

This is opinion. Honouring the Muslim soldiers who fought for Britain is not the problem. Their courage is a matter of record, and the money was first found by a Conservative Chancellor. The problem is what surrounds it. A Prime Minister who calls his opponents’ positions “completely unacceptable”, without saying which positions or which words, is not drawing a line at hatred. He is drawing a line around debate.

That matters because of what comes next. Labour now has an official definition, a legal challenge from the Free Speech Union, and an adviser due to be named within days. The government says criticising and even ridiculing Islam stays protected. If so, it should say plainly that Reform’s policy positions, from a burka ban to banning mass religious observances, are part of that protected debate, however much Labour dislikes them. (Reform UK Policies Explained)

Voters can judge Reform’s language for themselves. What they should not get is a taxpayer-funded post that decides for them. BBN has reported before on public money being used against Reform. (BBN)

FAQ

When did Andy Burnham meet Muslim leaders?

On Tuesday, 27 October 2026, at a roundtable in Downing Street hosted with Angela Rayner. LBC described it as his first roundtable for Muslim community leaders since becoming Prime Minister.

How much will the Muslim war memorial cost taxpayers?

Up to £970,000 from MHCLG: up to £950,000 in capital funding and £20,000 in revenue funding over 2026/27 and 2027/28. The amounts are indicative, and later funding depends on future budgets.

Was the memorial Labour’s idea?

No. Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt allocated £1m in the March 2024 Spring Budget. Labour ran the competition, which opened in May 2026.

What is the anti-Muslim hostility definition?

It is a non-statutory definition the government adopted on 9 March 2026. Ministers say it protects free speech. The Free Speech Union says it is “a Muslim blasphemy law via the back door” and has launched a legal challenge.

Who will be the anti-Muslim hostility adviser?

No name had been announced by early Wednesday, 28 October. Muslim News reported that Ms Rayner said the adviser would be named “later this week”.

Sources

• GB News, Jack Walters, “Andy Burnham meets Muslim leaders and takes veiled swipe at Nigel Farage”, 27 October 2026
• LBC, Flaminia Luck, “British Muslims have ‘lived through some of worst examples of division’…”, 27 October 2026
• Muslim News, “UK Government to name anti-Muslim hostility adviser this week, Rayner says”, October 2026
• HM Treasury, Spring Budget 2024 speech, 6 March 2024
• MHCLG, “Competition opens to build a national Muslim War Memorial”, 27 May 2026
• MHCLG, Muslim War Memorial: prospectus (updated 10 July 2026)
• House of Lords written question HL1527, answered July 2026
• MHCLG, “Action plan launched to build stronger communities”, 9 March 2026
• MHCLG, A definition of anti-Muslim hostility, 9 March 2026
• MHCLG media blog, 10 March 2026
• GOV.UK, working group on anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia definition, 28 February 2025
• The Telegraph, Charles Hymas, 28 February 2025
• Free Speech Union, legal challenge, 16 March 2026
• Free Speech Union, pre-action protocol letter, 19 March 2026
• Reform UK, “Jenrick defends free speech…”, 9 October 2026
• The Independent, “Labour MPs urge ‘Islamophobia’ probe into Reform UK”, 27 May 2026
• Home Office, Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2026, published 8 October 2026