Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said in a letter to the Prime Minister: "you not only affirmed a very important principle, you also recognised that the controversy about faith schools which has been revived recently basically reflected a desire in certain circles to derail your agenda of national inclusion and integration. >From this recognition of the underlying phenomenon, we expect", added Iqbal Sacranie, "the government to deal with the policy implications of a situation in which the community felt excluded yet at the same time found itself accused of isolationism".

A day earlier an MCB delegation had also met Home Secretary David Blunkett to outline a range of the community’s concerns from so-called ‘isolationationism’ to unwillingness to integrate, forced marriages and asylum-seekers etc which were not Muslim-exclusive yet these were being used to stigmatise the entire community.

Iqbal Sacranie described the meeting as good and positive. "We found in David Blunkett a perceptive and listening Home Secretary and we are now looking forward to addressing the serious problems arising from the absence of protection against religious discrimination and incitement to religious hatred".