Exclusive: DHSC refuses to publish evidence behind north England lockdown at start of Eid al-Adha
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The government has been criticised by its own Islamophobia adviser for refusing to publish the evidence behind Matt Hancock’s claim that people were “not abiding to social distancing” as he imposed a lockdown on 4.6 million people in northern England at the start of the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha.
Qari Asim, the deputy chair of a government taskforce on anti-Muslim hatred, said the health secretary’s claim on Twitter fuelled “hateful narratives” and “gave the impression that Muslim communities were not social distancing and were ignoring the government guidelines”.
