More than 20 MPs have protested against the government’s plans to regulate and inspect non-school settings, which could potentially include cheder classes, Sunday schools and Islamic madrassas – labelling the proposals “fundamentally illiberal”.

The group, led by Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsborough, met in Westminster on Wednesday to debate the government’s proposals to force “out-of-school education settings” offering more than six hours of classes a week to register and be subject to Ofsted inspections.

While David Cameron announced these potential measures in November as a way to tackle extremism, it was Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw who provoked outrage last week, after he said that he would use these powers aimed at targeting extremists to intervene in Sunday school teaching.

Sir Michael announced on LBC: “We need to know, if a Sunday school is being run: is it registered, is it being run properly by people that have been through safeguarding checks?”
He said the inspection service would be targeting all religious, out-of-school settings to ensure the regulations were being carried out in an “even-handed way”.

But on Wednesday, Sir Edward described this policy as a “bizarre, ill-thought-out, politically correct imposition on our freedom”.

Drawing support from MPs from across the political spectrum, he said that – rather than preventing extremism – Sir Michael’s plans would simply “just tie up thousands of non-jihadi groups in red tape” and would be a “total and utter distraction”.

He continued: “I am afraid that Ofsted has a reputation for being unfair to some Christian and Jewish schools.”

All MPs in attendance spoke in support of Sir Edward’s protests, with Fiona Bruce, MP for Congleton, describing the proposals as “disproportionate and likely to be ineffective” and said they posed “a real threat to freedom of speech, conscience and belief”.

She added they were also illegal, as they violated the right to religious freedom and expression without public interference.

Minister of State for Schools Nick Gibb, who answered for the government during the debate, said the government was still considering responses from its consultation on the issue.

He said: “The responses to the call for evidence included many from Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups, and we will continue to discuss our developing proposals with those groups and others to ensure that they are proportionate and effective.

“Any final proposals will, of course, be subject to further discussions with interested parties.”