Britain, what’s next?

After the foiling of terror plots come the inevitable meetings between so-called "community leaders" and government ministers. These meetings are designed to reassure everyone that no one is being demonized. But they are actually emblematic of so many of the flaws in the British approach to integration. Take the fact that at today's meeting, the ...

After the foiling of terror plots come the inevitable meetings between so-called "community leaders" and government ministers. These meetings are designed to reassure everyone that no one is being demonized. But they are actually emblematic of so many of the flaws in the British approach to integration. Take the fact that at today's meeting, the secretary general of the Union of Muslim Organisations, Dr. Syed Aziz, asked for, among other things, "Islamic laws to cover family affairs" for Muslims. He told the press that the government minister had responded that she'd "look sympathetically at all the suggestions."

After the foiling of terror plots come the inevitable meetings between so-called "community leaders" and government ministers. These meetings are designed to reassure everyone that no one is being demonized. But they are actually emblematic of so many of the flaws in the British approach to integration. Take the fact that at today's meeting, the secretary general of the Union of Muslim Organisations, Dr. Syed Aziz, asked for, among other things, "Islamic laws to cover family affairs" for Muslims. He told the press that the government minister had responded that she'd "look sympathetically at all the suggestions."

The government should not be afraid to instantly rule out the creation of a parallel legal system. All British citizens must be afforded the same rights and protections and bear the same responsibilities. The legal system must interact directly with citizens not via some group intermediary.  

This meeting follows the quite incredible decision by "Muslim leaders", including three of the four Muslim MPs, to take out advertisements in Saturday's papers demanding changes in British foreign policy. The letter suggests moral equivalence between Israel's actions in Lebanon, the coalition's in Iraq, and those who apparently wanted to blow up passenger jets. To be fair to the government, they got their response to this right, with Home Secretary John Reid stating, "We decide things in this country by democracy, not under the threat of terrorism."

James Forsyth is assistant editor at Foreign Policy.

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