Prime Minister Theresa May has been accused of “covering up” a report into the foreign funding of Islamist groups for fear it would expose Saudi Arabia.
Mrs. May said Monday, in response to a parliamentary question on the report, that “ministers are considering advice on what is able to be published and will report to parliament with an update in due course”.
Breitbart London reported in June that the review, then claimed to be incomplete, was said to focus on Saudi funding of jihadi groups in the United Kingdom and may never be released as the contents were considered “very sensitive”.
However, The Times reports on Tuesday the review had been in the prime minister’s possession for at least six months, and it took until last week for the government to disclose that it had been completed.
Home Office sources said the report does include references to the Gulf state, but claims the Sunni Muslim country is not of major focus.
The inquiry was authorised by former Prime Minster David Cameron in 2015 in exchange for Liberal Democrat support for the extension of British airstrikes against Islamic State into Syria, with the report to be shown to then-Home Secretary May and Mr. Cameron.
In May of this year, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesman Tom Brake wrote to the prime minister asking her to confirm she would release the report.
“It is no secret that Saudi Arabia in particular provides funding to hundreds of mosques in the UK, espousing a very hardline Wahhabist interpretation of Islam. It is often in these institutions that British extremism takes root. Now is not the time to brush this under the carpet once more,” he wrote.
Tim Farron, the outgoing Liberal Democrat leader, said Monday night: “The government are covering up this report. It’s a scandal that this is sitting in Downing Street gathering dust. What has the prime minister got to hide?
“I believe this report will be deeply critical of Saudi [Arabia] and that is why it is being hidden from the public. The government seems too desperate to keep Saudi Arabia happy rather than stand up to them.”