Robert Jenrick today threw his support behind a burqa ban in the UK as he suggested Britain should copy Italy by considering a crackdown on Muslim face veils.
The senior Tory MP told a radio phone-in show that there were ‘basic values in this country and we should stand up and defend them’.
‘I probably would ban the burqa,’ the shadow justice secretary told his ‘Ring Rob’ programme on Talk.
But Mr Jenrick’s comments put him at odds with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who earlier this year said a burqa ban ‘won’t fix the problem of cultural separatism’.
She suggested bosses should have the right to stop staff wearing burqas and other face coverings in the workplace, but argued against a nationwide ban.
The burqa is a garment worn by some Muslim women and is the most concealing of all Islamic veils.
It is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body, often leaving just a mesh screen to see through, and is mandatory by law for women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
In 2010, then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy introduced a ban on people wearing clothing intended to conceal their faces in a public space.
The burqa is mandatory by law for women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told his ‘Ring Rob’ phone-in show on Talk: ‘I probably would ban the burqa’
The French law effectively bans the wearing of the burqa or the niqab – another type of Islamic face veil – with anyone found wearing a covering in a public space facing a fine of 150 euros (£125).
Belgium brought in a similar ban a year later, and other countries including Denmark and Austria have got similar laws.
Switzerland was the latest European country to introduce a prohibition, which started on January 1 this year.
Mr Jenrick on Tuesday highlighted how Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had recently proposed a ban on the burqa and niqab in public places.
‘So I think there’s definitely a strong argument for it,’ he added.
‘There are basic values in this country and we should stand up and defend them.
‘Where you’re seeing them fraying at the edges or frankly being completely destroyed – whether it’s Sharia courts or wearing of the burqa – these are issues we’re going to have to confront if we want to build the kind of society that we want to hand on to our kids and grandkids.’
Mr Jenrick recently faced a storm of criticism for bemoaning how he ‘didn’t see another white face’ during a 90-minute visit to Handsworth, Birmingham, earlier this year.
‘That’s not the kind of country I want to live in,’ he added, before going on to say it was ‘not about the colour of your skin or your faith’, but about people ‘living alongside each other’.
During last year’s Tory leadership contest, in which he was runner-up to Mrs Badenoch, Mr Jenrick was accused of ‘textbook Islamophobia’ after he claimed people shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ should be arrested.
His comments, made as he criticised the policing of pro-Palestinian protests, prompted outrage as critics pointed out that ‘Allahu Akbar’ translates as ‘God is Great’.
Mr Jenrick later attempted to clarify that he was referring to ‘aggressive chanting’ that was ‘intimidatory and threatening’ but refused calls for him to apologise.
In an interview with The Telegraph in June, Mrs Badenoch said she had ‘strong views about face coverings’ and would not allow people into her constituency surgeries if they wore face veils.
She said: ‘If you come into my constituency surgery, you have to remove your face covering, whether it’s a burqa or a balaclava.
‘I’m not talking to people who are not going to show me their face, and I also believe that other people should have that control.
‘Organisations should be able to decide what their staff wear; it shouldn’t be something that people should be able to override.’
But the Tory leader argued against a nationwide ban on face coverings in public, adding: ‘France has a ban and they have worse problems than we do in this country on integration.
‘So banning the burqa clearly is not the thing that’s going to fix things.’
Mrs Badenoch made the remarks amid a row over Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin calling for Sir Keir Starmer to introduce a burqa ban during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.
Her question triggered disquiet in the Commons and cries of ‘shame’ from other MPs.
Reform officials sowed confusion by later insisting that banning the burqa is not the party’s official policy, while then-party chairman Zia Yusuf hit out at Ms Pochin’s ‘dumb’ question.
Mr Yusuf later quit as chairman and left the party entirely, before rejoining its ranks two days later.
