Kemi Badenoch now considering UK burka ban in crackdown on extremism | Politics | News
Kemi Badenoch is reportedly considering a burqa ban as her party looks for ways to suppress Islamist extremism. Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philipand Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy is said to be exploring the merits of banning the full-body garment but leaving room for the eyes.
Reported by Mr Philip. Telegram I worry that clothes can hinder integration, divide people and encourage extremism. It will bring a ban Conservative Party in line with UK Reformationapproach. Ziya YusufThe organisation’s home affairs spokesman told the same publication that burqas were “un-British” in a western liberal democracy and that it would be “concerning” if you couldn’t make eye contact with the shop assistant scanning your belongings when buying something from Tesco.
Many countries have banned the burqa in one form or another, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and some parts of Spain. France banned the wearing of face coverings, including burqas, in public places in 2011.
Full or partial bans have also been imposed in Chad, Gabon, Senegal, China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, among others.
Conservative Party leader Ms Badenoch said last year she would not speak to women wearing burqas in constituency surgeries.
He also argued that employers should be allowed to ban staff from wearing face masks.
However Miss Badenoch She told the Sunday Telegraph at the time that women should be able to choose what they wear and that things like sharia courts were “more insidious”.
Ms Badenoch’s potential change of position would put her party at odds with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor Party and move the Conservatives closer to Reform’s stance ahead of local elections in May.
Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood, a devout Muslim, defended women’s right to decide what to wear.
Both he and the prime minister will struggle to win back Muslim voters after Labor fell to third place against the Greens and Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton byelections in February.
Labor was counting on Muslim voters to support them, but anger over the party’s handling of Gaza and the Government’s crackdown on immigrants has alienated many.
