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The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said she will not speak to women wearing burqas in her constituency surgery, and argued that employers should be able to ban their staff from wearing face coverings.
Badenoch gave her view after the newest Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, triggered a debate over the subject by pressing the prime minister on whether he would follow the lead of other European countries such as France in banning the burqa.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the Conservative leader said there were other things that were “more insidious”, like sharia courts, and that women should be able to wear what they like.
But Badenoch added that if people come to her constituency surgery, she asks them to remove face coverings, whether they are balaclavas or burqas. She also said employers should be able to stop their staff wearing burqas if they want to.
Reform’s decision to raise the issue, with Nigel Farage calling for a debate on the burqa, caused Zia Yusuf, the party’s chair, to resign.
However, he has since returned to Reform, saying he was not upset by the idea of banning the burqa and had just been exhausted and demoralised by racist abuse against him as a prominent Muslim politician.
Yusuf told the Sunday Times that he would possibly vote in favour of a burqa ban if given the opportunity but he thought there were more pressing issues facing the country. He is due to take up a portfolio of roles for Reform, including leading its Department of Government Efficiency unit looking at council spending where the party is in control.
The Reform focus on burqas on Friday caused leading Muslim groups and politicians to accuse the party of inflaming hostility towards Muslims.
Its deputy leader, Richard Tice, has defended the decision to start a debate saying the issue cannot be “forced underground”.
Badenoch gave her view on the subject in an interview, in which she said she would not engage with people in her constituency who are wearing face coverings – whether burqas or balaclavas.
“If you were to ask me where you start with integration – sharia courts, all of this nonsense sectarianism, things like first-cousin marriage – there’s a whole heap of stuff that is far more insidious and that breeds more problems.
“My view is that people should be allowed to wear whatever they want, not what their husband is asking them to wear or what their community says that they should wear.”
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She added: “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.”
Employers are able to set their own dress codes. They could face challenges under equality and human rights law if they restrict their staff from observing their religion through their clothing. However, rules can override this if they are proportionate and for a legitimate aim such as ensuring effective communication or for health and safety.
Jack Straw, the former Labour home secretary, revealed in 2006 that he asked Muslim women wearing the burqa coming to his constituency surgeries if they would remove their face coverings, arguing that the conversation would be of greater value without it.
