On 31st July, Friday ahead of Eid-Al Adha celebrations, a Conservative MP blamed the Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) community and particularly Muslims of violating lockdown rules resulting in the spread of Covid-19.
Craig Whittaker, MP for Calder Valley in an interview with LBC claimed that the "vast majority" of He said, "What I have seen in my constituency is that there are sections of the community that are not taking the pandemic seriously.
"If you look at the areas where we've seen rises and cases, the vast majority - but not by any stretch of the imagination all areas - it is the BAME communities that are not taking this seriously enough.
"I've been challenging our local leaders for three weeks, asking what we are doing to target these areas to let people know that this is a very serious problem. Until people take it seriously, we're not going to get rid of this pandemic.
"We have areas of high multiple occupancy - when you have multiple families living in one household. It doesn't specifically have to be in the Asian community, but that is the largest proportion.
"Look at the areas. You've got Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees. Bradford and Kirklees have two of the largest populations in West Yorkshire."
Again Ian clarified that he was referring to the immigrant population and the MP said, "Immigrant and Asian population."
