Mosques ‘secretly endorsed Greens in breach of rules’

Mosques have secretly endorsed Green Party candidates despite charity rules forbidding it, the party’s campaign co-ordinator has claimed. Asma Alam, who was involved in the by-election campaign in which Hannah Spencer was elected MP for Gorton & Denton, claimed that mosques had gone “under cover” to support her candidate. They were so disappointed with Labour they were willing to break rules, she said. Watch: Asma Alam talks about mosque endorsements at the conference fringe event Mosques that are registered charities are subject to restrictions on political campaigning and must remain politically impartial. The Charity Commission confirmed it was assessing a complaint about Alam’s claims, which were made at a fringe meeting at the Green Party conference. Top stories 1 Andrew takes Thames Valley police to court over Jeffrey Epstein investigation Royal family Alam, a Manchester city councillor, helped to set up the Muslim Greens and led the party’s community outreach plan in the February by-election. Labour had held the seat for almost a century until Spencer’s victory. Alam and Spencer during the by-election campaign Spencer described Alam as her “bestie” on Instagram this week after The Sun reported she had also told Green Party campaigners to dress modestly and speak Arabic to try to win Muslim votes. Advertisement At a fringe event on Friday, Alam was asked about the issue of getting endorsements from mosques, given that most were registered charities. Alam said: “Talking about mosque endorsements, it’s actually really really hard, in fact it’s impossible because they all have got charitable status and with that charitable status, it means that they can’t endorse a political party. Top stories 1 Six thrilling Costa Rica trips with Times Holidays Promoted content “So they can do it under cover, which happened with me.” Politics newsletter Get our daily insider’s guide to Westminster, plus a rundown of PMQs every Wednesday. Sign up with one click You’ve successfully signed up to the Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters She suggested that mosques might say they were going to endorse but not follow through with it, and named a Manchester mosque that “did break away … and they actually announced it [a Greens endorsement]”. Most commented 1 Niqabs and burqas harm society, says Tory shadow minister Politics 631 comments 2 Zohran Mamdani has betrayed us over Israel, say young socialists US politics 91 comments 3 Trump: Let Iran take out LA or San Diego US politics 88 comments 4 August Hanning: Ex-German spy chief arrested for espionage and treason Europe 32 comments 5 David George Gordon obituary: ‘bug chef’ who championed eating insects Obituaries 7 comments Alam said she should not have named the mosque but went on to say “they had actually announced it that you need to ‘vote Green, break free’. And I think that was because they had been so disappointed by Labour, so much so that they were willing to break ranks, and I think that’s what happened this year in particular. Mosques are willing to break ranks because enough is enough, complicity is enough.” A Green Party spokesperson said: “Councillor Alam’s comments were anecdotal and neither she nor the Green Party have ever sought or facilitated any breach of the law. In referring conversationally to ‘under cover’ support, she was talking about individuals choosing to express personal political support, not formal endorsements. We are not aware of any mosque formally endorsing the Green Party.” Advertisement Her comments prompted a complaint to the Charity Commission by the National Secular Society. It said the reference to “under cover” endorsement raised particular concern that those involved understood the restrictions arising from charitable status. A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We are currently assessing information which alleges that a charity, or potentially multiple charities, have been engaging in party political activity to determine if there is a regulatory role for the Commission.” Charities are required to be independent and cannot have political purposes, meaning they can not endorse, promote or oppose any political candidate or party. The commission can take regulatory action in the event of breaches.