The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has accused Security Minister Dan Jarvis of repeating an "unsubstantiated allegation" against it to justify why Andy Burnham's government refuses to engage with the organisation.
Speaking to Middle East Eye on Thursday, the MCB praised Prime Minister Burnham, who has previously engaged with the organisation, saying he "has a strong record of engaging honestly with communities across this country" and it hoped "that record continues now that he is in Downing Street".
The MCB, which the government refuses to engage with, is the largest umbrella body representing British Muslim organisations, with more than 500 affiliates.
Earlier this month, Conservative MP David Simmonds asked the government why it does not engage with "Mend [Muslim Engagement and Development], Cage, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Muslim Council of Britain".
In a response published on Tuesday, Jarvis said: "The Government has previously made the decision to not engage with organisations that have taken positions that contradict our fundamental values and have not explicitly retracted these positions."
On Thursday morning, the MCB sent Jarvis a letter, seen by MEE, saying he had made an "unsubstantiated allegation against the MCB, previously made by then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 28 February 2024".
Sunak had said that the MCB's "previous leaders have taken positions that contradict our fundamental values".
The MCB's letter asked Jarvis to specify what "fundamental values" the organisation has contradicted.
"If the Government maintains such a position in respect of our organisation, it must be able to state clearly and unambiguously what those values are, not refer to them in the abstract."
The letter further noted that "Sir Keir Starmer as Leader of the Opposition, has engaged with the MCB".
The MCB said: "The current Prime Minister, the current Defence Secretary and the current Equalities Minister have all engaged with the MCB over the years."
This comes after MEE reported this week that the communities ministry, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office had denied holding any information on the government's "non-engagement policy" with the MCB in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.
As an MEE analysis showed on Tuesday, no written records of an actual non-engagement policy appear to exist.
On Tuesday, MEE emailed the Office for Equality and Opportunity, which is part of the communities ministry, as well as the ministry itself, asking what the non-engagement policy entailed and for the official justification for refusing to engage with the MCB.
A spokesperson for the Office for Equality and Opportunity did not answer the questions, instead saying: "There has been no change to our non-engagement policy regarding the Muslim Council of Britain, and there are no plans for ministers to meet with the group."
The MCB's assistant secretary general, Mustafa al-Dabbagh, told MEE: "This so-called policy of non-engagement is a relic of the past, built on a smear that has since been proven false, and the Labour government of the day accepted as much in 2010, restoring engagement. Mr Jarvis has misled Parliament by claiming otherwise."
He praised Burnham, saying: "The current prime minister engaged with the MCB back in 2015, then as a member of the shadow cabinet, and has a strong record of engaging honestly with communities across this country.
"We hope that record continues now that he is in Downing Street, and that his premiership marks a change of direction for this government and its relationship with British Muslims.
"Our door remains open to all who work for the good of Britain."
In 2009, the MCB was briefly boycotted by Gordon Brown’s Labour government after its deputy secretary general, Daud Abdullah, signed the so-called Istanbul Declaration in Turkey.
