UKIP to call for ban on wearing burka

[TriWooOx]

Quote:It would be the first national party to call for a total ban on the Islamic headgear; the far-right British National Party believes they should be banned from schools.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the leader of Ukip, wants to raise the issue of the influence of Sharia law in Britain, according to a report in The Times.

He told the newspaper: “We are taking expert advice on how we could do it. It makes sense to ban the burka — or anything which conceals a woman’s face — in public buildings. But we want to make it possible to ban them in private buildings. It isn’t right that you can’t see someone’s face in an airport.”

He added: “We are not Muslim bashing, but this is incompatible with Britain’s values of freedom and democracy.”

The newspaper said Ukip would make an announcement on Sunday describing the burka as a threat to gender equality and claiming that it marginalises women and endangers public safety because terrorists could use them to hide their identity.

In the European elections last June, Ukip secured the second-largest share of the vote, more than 16 per cent.

Ukip is seen as a single-issue Euro-sceptic party, but it also has a policy of bringing back grammar schools and reducing the number of school leavers attending university.

In France, public opinion is opposed to women wearing full veils in schools, hospitals or government buildings but moves to impose a blanket ban have become mired in legal arguments amid fears it would be unworkable in practice.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi...burka.html