Mosques to receive security funding following rise in hate crimes
Funding brings total available this year to £39.4m for Muslim faith sites
Prime minister Keir Starmer holds a copy of The Quran, as he stands with home secretary Shabana Mahmood (R) during a visit to Peacehaven Mosque near Brighton in southern England, on October 23, 2025. (Photo by PETER NICHOLLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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MOSQUES and Muslim faith centres across the country will receive an additional £10 million in security funding to protect them from hate crime and attacks, prime minister Keir Starmer announced on Thursday (23).
Starmer, accompanied by home secretary Shabana Mahmood, announced the funding following a visit to Peacehaven Mosque in East Sussex, which was targeted in an arson attack on October 4.
The money will pay for security measures including CCTV cameras, alarm systems, secure fencing and security personnel. It will be distributed through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, which supports mosques, Muslim community centres and Muslim faith schools that have experienced or are at risk of hate crime.
The additional funding, which was part of the government's plan to create safer streets across Britain, brings the total available this year for mosques and Muslim faith schools to £39.4m, an official statement said.
Recent months have seen several attacks on mosques. During disorder last summer, mosques in Southport, Hull and Sunderland were targeted.
The latest hate crime statistics show that anti-Muslim hate crimes rose by 19 per cent in the year ending March 2025. Muslims were the target of 44 per cent of all religious hate crimes recorded during that period.
The prime minister said attacks on any community were attacks on the entire nation and its values. "This funding will provide Muslim communities with the protection they need and deserve, allowing them to live in peace and safety," he said.
He added that the government was committed to delivering safer streets for everyone and protecting places of worship from those who seek to divide communities through hate and violence.
Mahmood said the attack on Peacehaven Mosque was an appalling crime that could have led to a more devastating outcome.
"Violence and intimidation directed at any community or faith are attacks on us all. We must stand together against those who seek to divide us," she said.
Akeela Ahmed, chief executive of the British Muslim Trust, said members of Muslim communities had become fearful as mosques had been vandalised and set on fire, and worshippers had been abused and assaulted.
"We welcome the announcement of this funding which will play a key role in helping members of Britain's Muslim communities feel the safety and reassurance they need and deserve," she said.
THE BRITISH MUSEUM, which raised more than £2.5 million from its inaugural Pink Ball last Saturday (18), has said it wants to strengthen its collaboration with India.
Isha Ambani, George Osborne, Nita Ambani, Nicholas Cullinan. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
The museum’s director, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, went out of his way to extend a special thanks to Isha Ambani, chair of the India-themed ball.
Neeta Ambani at the event. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
The funds raised will be used to support the museum’s international partnerships, particularly with India.
There will be a focus on “pioneering curatorial collaborations with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) in Mumbai. The British Museum is also proud of its collaborative, cross-cultural and co-curated projects with CSMVS, which have resulted in critically acclaimed exhibitions in both London and Mumbai.”
Jules Buckley, Anoushka Shankar. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
The CSMVS was known previously as the Prince of Wales Museum.
Isha Ambani, 33, is the daughter of Mukesh Ambani, head of Reliance Industries in India and said to be “the driving force behind the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre” in Mumbai. Isha attended the ball with her mother, Nita Ambani.
Jaya Raheja, Aarti Lohia. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
The success of the ball must be partly because of the backing from the Ambani family.
There are hopes of further collaboration between the British Museum and the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.
Katy Wickremesinghe. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
“That would be fantastic,” said Dr Sushma Jansari, who curated Ancient India: Living Traditions, the exhibition which inspired the ball.
The art scene in India is said to be vibrant, reflecting the country’s economic growth. What government-owned museums in India probably need is curatorial expertise from Britain, as well as better cataloguing and help with restoration.
Natasha Poonawalla. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
“The British Museum’s international training programme also continues to equip the next generation of curators to protect and share heritage worldwide,” the museum pointed out.
The money raised from the ball was described as “a landmark moment in the museum’s history that secures vital funding for its international partnerships”.
Orhan Awatramani. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
Many families from Eastern Eye’s Asian Rich List attended the ball.
The money raised “incorporates the generous support of table hosts and guests, donations made on the night and proceeds from the ball’s silent auction”, the museum said.
Ray Panthaki. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
It added: “Chaired by arts patron and businesswoman Isha Ambani, alongside director Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, the ball welcomed nearly 900 guests, 70 per cent of whom were new to the museum, including leading cultural figures. Arriving at the museum, guests walked the pink carpet up to the iconic south façade and colonnade. Guests were invited to take their seats for dinner at tables set amid some of the most spectacular objects in the museum collection. Served throughout a number of the ground floor galleries, a menu inspired by the rich flavours of India was served in artisanal, hand-painted tiffin tins.
Alejandra Cicognani, Manav Angelo Kashyap. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
“The inaugural British Museum Ball has now set a new benchmark for philanthropic and cultural celebration, bringing together leading figures from art, design, fashion, entertainment and public life in support of a shared global mission and to celebrate London’s status as one of the world’s leading cultural capitals.”
There are hopes also of greater collaboration between the museum and the 2.5 million-strong British Indian community, who were consulted about the Ancient India exhibition, along with Jains and Buddhists in the UK.
One of the museum’s ball partners was Kama Ayurveda, a beauty products firm which was represented in a tent in the grounds of Chequers along with other British businesses, when India’s prime minister Narendra Modi travelled to London in July for the signing of the Free Trade Agreement with UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Sweta Mehta. (Photo credit: Dave Benett)
The ball could also signal greater patronage from wealthy British Indian families for art institutions in the UK, mirroring well-established practices in the US. In the past, Asian businesses, particularly those who came from east Africa, have not always seen a direct link between their own profit lines and giving money to the arts. But this might be changing. The involvement of the Ambanis, India’s richest family, could be a game changer.
In the UK, Akshata Murty, who attended the ball with her husband, Rishi Sunak, has become a trustee of the V&A. Normally, these roles are reserved for the great and the good of British high society. But as the wife of a former prime minister, she probably outranks them, not least because her father, NR Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, had made her a very rich woman in her own right.
During the silent auction, one of the prizes was “an opportunity to be among the first to see the monumental Bayeux Tapestry when it arrives on loan next year, and a private dinner and tour of the British Museum, personally led by the director”.
Cullinan said: “The British Museum is at the heart of cultural life in the UK, and the inaugural ball demonstrated this with both an unprecedented level of interest, an extraordinary fundraising sum, and a renewed sense of the mission we are on to transform this remarkable institution. I want to once again thank Isha Ambani.”
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