British Muslims are tackling low representation in parliament head-on with a new project to crowdfund support for candidates who align with their views on key policy areas.
Almost £4,000 has been raised so far and will be donated to aspiring MPs who are committed to addressing issues including rising anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Muddassar Ahmed, a former UK government adviser who is leading the Muslims for Change initiative, said he hoped to raise more than £30,000 to ensure Muslim voices would be heard in this election.
He said the campaign was an "experiment" and an ambitious task "as people do not generally give donations to politicians", but said no one else was raising money on the basis of inclusivity and multiculturalism.
“Growing up I remember two Muslim approaches to elections. Neither were all that helpful," Ahmed told BuzzFeed News. "Either Muslims sat out of the vote entirely, equally suspicious of all the parties, or we voted en masse according to the recommendation of senior religious or community leaders."
Ahmed said the work of a "pressure group" like Muslims for Change could prove to be "a better, savvier approach" that was more inclusive, and rejected the idea it was akin to lobbying.
"Lobbying is done by the privileged and the elite and the few behind closed doors, and backroom deals. It conjures up those images," Ahmed said. "What we're doing is the complete opposite of that. What we're doing is very transparent, very open, and bringing [together] ordinary people to give money."
Launched earlier this month, Ahmed's campaign adds to a growing list of cross-party tactical voting initiatives – most notably that of business owner Gina Miller, who is working to stop "extreme Brexit".
Muslims constitute 4.4% of the UK population, making the religious grouping a significant minority, yet only 13 out of 650 members of parliament elected in 2015 identify as Muslim or have said they have Muslim heritage.
Ahmed, president of the think tank Forum for Change, said Muslims for Change is non-partisan and would be lending support based solely on whether an individual politician is aligned with its aims.
"We are deliberately not taking a view on Brexit," he said. "What we're doing is we're saying we don't want to see an increase in rhetoric against migrants or against refugees."
He added: "We think this needs to be a priority. So we want to back people who will actively go out of their way to [address] these issues."
Stephen Timms, the Labour candidate for East Ham, and Andrew Stephenson, the Tory candidate for Pendle had welcomed the support over the phone, Ahmed said.
The group has also spoken with Tom Brake, the Lib Dem candidate for Carshalton and Wallington, who said he supports tackling Islamophobia and stopping attacks on refugees.
Muslims for Change is expected to announce the first round of donations later this week.
Ahmed – who recently worked on the Hillary Clinton campaign during the US elections – said there was a small committee that decides which candidates will receive a £1,000 fund each.
He did not disclose who else is on the committee, but said his group was supported by high-profile figures such as Imam Qari Asim of Leeds Mosque, and stand-up comedian Imran Yusuf.
British Muslims fundraising for MPs #GeneralElection #GE2017 https://t.co/Zc3fphRVFV
https://t.co/ijLoVzD4Gu Muslims who want their voice heard in GE 2017 are allocating funds to MPs who champion the cause. #GeneralElection
The Muslims behind the campaign to raise cash for London terror attack victims have a new, more political campaign: https://t.co/kSpv2MuX8V
Candidates will be supported based on their track record, according to a statement on the crowdfunding page on Launch Good, across five issues including: addressing rising anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment; standing up for minority rights; showing a commitment to socioeconomic reforms; standing up to the misreporting of minorities in the media; and supporting an independent review of Prevent, the government's flagship counter-terrorism strategy.
In constituencies where multiple candidates agreed with Muslims for Change on the above statements, Ahmed said his group would not get involved – such as in Bethnal Green & Bow, where Labour's Rushanara Ali is facing a challenge from independent candidate Imam Ajmal Masroor.
"We're staying out of places where both candidates obviously and publicly agree with our statements, or are Muslim," Ahmed said, adding that no candidate would get support on the basis of religion. "If one agrees and one doesn't, it really doesn't matter what their religion is … it may be the case we back the non-Muslim over the Muslim, it doesn't matter."
The campaigner said although he was not expecting any major policies in the parties' manifestos ahead of the snap election to "address the concerns of the community at large", he added: "The Muslim community seems to be the elephant in the room but nobody is sort of talking about."
"We thought it was important that, given this was such a crucial election for all parties involved, we ought to make our voice count somewhere," Ahmed said.
When asked whether this meant there was such as thing as the "Muslim vote" in the UK, Ahmed said his campaign "suggests there's a group of Muslims who are willing to put money behind their ideas and are willing to help create an inclusive society for everyone, who want to form a vision in British politics at a time when British politics feels quite polarised."
He continued: "This election seems very crucial in determining the future of the country and I don't think this is a time when my community or myself or anyone should stand idle."
Asked how the group might tackle accusations of "entryism", an allegation Ahmed previously faced from journalist Andrew Gilligan when he was a member of a government working group addressing anti-Muslim hatred, he said: "We thought about that a lot and I think that it does colour your approach.
"We're not doing anything wrong, we're not doing anything illegal, we're not doing anything immoral – we're trying to make the process more open transparent and accountable."
Pointing to one of the group's aims, which calls for support for Britain's most disadvantaged groups, including white working-class communities, Ahmed said the initiative was "not asking for favours, it's asking for fairness – fairness for everyone".
"What's important is each and every single one of our values correspond to wider society, so actually we've been very careful not to make this just about Muslims, we're asking for a more equal society and more inclusive society for everyone.
"This is the beginning. We want to make this a regular feature."