Nigel Farage has demanded a total ban on public face coverings, including burkas and balaclavas, calling them a “menace” to society. The Reform UK leader and Clacton MP said the coverings enabled bullying, intimidation and crime and were “not the British way”.
Attack on Reform UK member
Mr Farage described how a young Reform UK member was left “badly bloodied” and hospitalised after being struck with a rock in broad daylight while heading to the party conference. The attacker wore a facial covering, Mr Farage said.
Hours later, in an unconnected event, about 500 activists in balaclavas and other face coverings marched onto major roads near Dover, blocking traffic at Britain’s busiest ferry port. They were protesting the Government’s failure to stop small-boat migrant crossings.
Support for protest, opposition to masks
Mr Farage said he supported the right to protest – but insisted this was not the way to go about it.
Writing in The Telegraph, he said: “Face coverings are a menace. Whether it is a heavy-duty balaclava worn by a gang member or the dark mask of ‘Antifa’ extremists their purpose is to bully and intimidate.”
Mr Farage said ordinary people now cross the road to avoid masked figures on high streets, while balaclava-clad youths on e-bikes and scooters terrorise neighbourhoods.
Call for nationwide ban
Britain has one of the highest numbers of CCTV cameras in the world, yet criminals and shoplifters use facial concealment as a “get-out-of-jail-free card,” he said.
Reform UK is calling for a total ban on full-face coverings in public spaces with “no ifs, no buts” — including religious ones. A free society rests on the social contract of showing one’s face, Mr Farage said.
Mr Farage pointed to existing rules that allow staff at petrol stations and banks to demand removal of face coverings, and asked why the same standard should not apply everywhere.
European countries including France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland already ban full-face coverings in public, he said.
Dismissal of civil liberties concerns
Mr Farage dismissed expected criticism about civil liberties.
He said: “What about the liberty of the elderly woman afraid to step outside her front door after dark?
“What about the freedom of small shopkeepers trying to defend their livelihoods against masked looters? What about the safety of our member on Friday morning?”
“Facial coverings, quite frankly, are not the British way. Let’s ban them in public once and for all.”
The intervention comes amid rising concern over masked disorder and crime. Mr Farage framed the ban as essential for public safety, social cohesion and the basic ability of citizens to identify one another in a functioning democracy.
