Newport City Council needs to engage more with the area’s Muslim community and tackle islamophobia, a Labour councillor has argued.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday, November 22, Cllr Miqdad Al-Nuaimi said: “I think equality has come a long way in this council and city, because in the 30 years that I have been a councillor things have really moved on a lot.”

He added: “I know there is work to be done, so I would like to bring the issue of islamophobia here.

“I have been approached by the Muslim councils about this, and they want the council to look at this a bit more fully than we have, and I think a good way to start that engagement is through the strategic equality group.”

The Stow Hill councillor made these comments in relation to Newport City Council’s strategic equality plan for 2020-24.

According to the 2011 census, there are 6,859 Muslims living in Newport.

Cllr Al-Nuaimi said: “Can we please have a little bit more engagement with them, I have suggested that for the last few months actually and so far I haven’t seen anything formal. So I hope that we will actually look at that and it will be forming part of the work we do for next year.”