How many Muslim mayors are there across England as of 2025?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
No reliable, consolidated count of Muslim mayors across England in 2025 is provided in the available reporting; fact‑checks say many viral lists are misleading and that only a small number of high‑profile directly elected mayors are known to be Muslim, notably Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London [1] [2]. Reporting and fact‑checks emphasize the distinction between directly elected executive mayors and ceremonial (civic or lord) mayors, and note that religion is not routinely recorded for civic mayors, so simple tallies in viral posts are unreliable [3] [4] [1].
1. Why the headline number is hard to nail down
There is no single official registry listing the religion of every mayor in England; civic (ceremonial) mayors greatly outnumber directly elected executive mayors, and their personal faith is not systematically recorded in public datasets, making any simple count inherently uncertain [4] [3]. Reuters and Full Fact, reviewing viral social posts, found that claims listing multiple Muslim mayors were misleading because past appointments and different mayoral types were being conflated [1] [3].
2. Directly elected mayors vs. civic (ceremonial) mayors — the crucial distinction
England has two main mayor types: relatively rare directly elected executive mayors (with authority over local services) and numerous civic or lord mayors (largely ceremonial). Fact‑checkers underline that conflating those categories leads to inflated impressions of representation — civic mayors are appointed for short terms and their religion is not public‑recorded in a way that permits a reliable nationwide count [4] [3].
3. Known high‑profile Muslim mayors referenced in reporting
Reporting repeatedly cites Sadiq Khan as the best‑known Muslim mayor — Mayor of London and identified in parliamentary debate and profiles as Muslim [2] [5]. Fact‑checks also note that other places have had Muslim mayors at various times, but emphasize that past incumbency is not the same as current officeholding [1] [4].
4. Viral claims and why they were debunked
A viral post claiming many Muslim mayors across cities such as London, Birmingham, Leeds, Blackburn, Sheffield, Oxford, Luton, Oldham and Rochdale was investigated and found misleading: while several of those places have had Muslim mayors previously, current officeholders largely did not identify as Muslim when checked by Reuters and Full Fact [1] [3]. Those fact‑checks found offices and mayoral types confused, and in some cases offices declined to confirm religious identity [1].
5. Attempts to count mosques or related institutions don’t settle the mayor question
Some posts tied claims about Muslim mayors to tallies of mosques or Sharia councils. Reuters reported that a mosque directory listed about 2,122 sites in May 2024 but stressed that such figures are independent of any mayoral tally; Full Fact likewise warned there is no official count that links religious institutions to political officeholders [1] [3].
6. What the fact‑checkers conclude you can and cannot say
Fact‑checkers conclude that asserting a specific, large number of Muslim mayors in England in 2025 is unsupported by the evidence provided in viral posts; they recommend treating past incumbency separately from current office and checking mayoral type before asserting representation figures [1] [4]. Available sources do not provide a single authoritative tally of Muslim mayors across England in 2025 [1] [4].
7. What a cautious, evidence‑based answer looks like
Based on reviewed fact‑checks and reporting, the safe statement is: high‑profile directly elected Muslim mayors exist (for example, Sadiq Khan in London), some towns and councils have had Muslim civic mayors historically, but no reliable source in the provided reporting gives a definitive count of how many mayors across England identified as Muslim in 2025 [2] [1] [4]. Claims in viral posts that list many current Muslim mayors are contradicted or unverified by Reuters and Full Fact fact‑checks [1] [3].
Limitations and competing perspectives: Reuters and Full Fact focus on debunking viral overreach and emphasize verification with mayoral offices; community outlets, such as the Muslim Women’s Network, highlight recent local firsts and appointments of Muslim civic mayors, which can be true locally even as national tallies remain unverified [6] [1]. Available sources do not mention a government or independent census‑style count of mayoral religious affiliation for 2025 [4] [1].