Kemi Badenoch has said she will not speak to women wearing burqas at her constituency surgeries and believes employers should be able to ban staff from wearing face coverings. The Conservative leader said that while people should be allowed to wear what they want, she requires anyone attending her surgery to remove any face covering, whether it is a burqa or a balaclava.
Her comments came after Reform MP Sarah Pochin pressed Sir Keir Starmer on whether he would follow France in banning the burqa. Badenoch told the Sunday Telegraph that there were issues “more insidious” than the burqa, including sharia courts and first-cousin marriage, but said women should not be forced to wear clothing by their husbands or communities.
The remarks drew criticism from Labour MP Afzal Khan, vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims. He said attempting to outflank Reform UK on culture wars risked alienating moderate voters and eroding trust in politics, adding that Britain’s problems would not be solved by “scapegoating or soundbites”.
Reform’s decision to raise the burqa issue also led its party chair, Zia Yusuf, to resign last week before returning. He told the Sunday Times he would possibly vote for a ban but said there were more pressing issues. Leading Muslim groups accused Reform of inflaming hostility, but deputy leader Richard Tice defended the debate, saying the issue cannot be “forced underground”.
Employers can already set dress codes, though restrictions on religious clothing may face legal challenges unless they are proportionate and for a legitimate aim. The former Labour home secretary Jack Straw revealed in 2006 that he asked women to remove burqas at his surgeries, arguing the conversation would be of greater value without a face covering.
