Kemi Badenoch says she supports women’s right to dress freely but asks constituents to remove face coverings, including burqas, during meetings.
Tory minister Kemi Badenoch has said she will not speak to women wearing burqas at her constituency surgeries, stating she asks attendees to remove any face coverings, including burqas and balaclavas.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Badenoch said: “If people come to my surgery, I ask them to remove face coverings.” She added that employers should be allowed to ban staff from wearing burqas if they choose.
While defending individual freedom, Badenoch argued that integration issues go beyond clothing. “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.”
The debate was reignited after Reform MP Sarah Pochin asked the prime minister about banning the burqa. Reform’s focus on the issue led to the brief resignation of party chair Zia Yusuf, who later returned, calling for attention to more pressing national concerns.