Statement on Anti-Somali Hostility and the Holborn & St Pancras By-Election

We are deeply concerned by the growing anti-Somali hostility surrounding the Holborn & St Pancras by-election, including the targeting and vilification of the Labour candidate.

We are witnessing an increasingly familiar pattern: the candidate's Somali heritage, refugee background and Muslim identity are being weaponised to question their belonging and legitimacy, while their longstanding local record as a councillor is diminished. Narratives of foreignness, othering and non-belonging are being amplified through the sustained peddling of misinformation and disinformation.

This is not simply about political disagreement. It reflects wider patterns of anti-Somali hostility and the racialisation of Somalis, where those of Somali heritage are too often treated as perpetual outsiders and required to repeatedly prove their belonging.

We have seen the consequences before. Following the Golders Green attack, British Somalis faced hostility because of the background associated with the attacker, while the Somali identity of the first victim received little to no recognition. In Belfast and Dublin, misinformation and misidentification have similarly contributed to hostility towards Somali communities.

We are also concerned by attempts to present particular views as representative of Muslims as a whole.

Muslims are not a homogeneous community. Britain is home to many diverse Muslim communities. Yet positions of power and influence within Muslim representative spaces have been occupied overwhelmingly by South Asian Muslims, with insufficient recognition of the voices and contributions of other communities, including British Somalis.

The assertion that the Labour candidate cannot represent Muslims is therefore deeply problematic. No single community has a monopoly on Muslim identity or representation. Such arguments risk reinforcing an exclusionary idea of what a Muslim representative should look like and highlights the anti-Somali hostility that exists within sections of the Muslim community.

The British Somali community has a longstanding presence in Britain dating back to the late nineteenth century. Our contribution to British society is not new, and our belonging is not conditional.

We are particularly alarmed by the deliberate circulation of misinformation and disinformation about the Labour candidate and British Somalis. False or misleading claims about identity, background and belonging can quickly move from online spaces into real-world hostility.

We reject the weaponisation of Muslim representation, misinformation and community tensions for electoral gain.

Democracy requires robust debate and the freedom to disagree. Candidates should be challenged on their policies and records—not subjected to racialised attacks or attempts to deny their belonging.

We therefore call on political parties, candidates and commentators to reject anti-Somali hostility, challenge misinformation and disinformation, and refuse to amplify narratives that racialise or collectively vilify British Somalis.

British Somalis belong here. Our voices belong in every space of representation. Our communities will not be erased or spoken for.