Ask women if burka is genuinely their choice, says Reform UK's Richard Tice
His comments followed the sudden resignation of Reform's chairman Zia Yusuf, who had described a call from the party's newest MP to ban the burka as 'dumb'.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Mr Tice said: 'I think it is right that we should have a debate about whether or not the burka is appropriate for a nation that's founded in Christianity, where women are equal citizens and should not be viewed as second class citizens.'
Asked whether he supported a ban, he said he was 'pretty concerned' about whether the burka was a 'repressive item of clothing', adding: 'Let's ask women who wear the burka, is that genuinely their choice?'
Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria – while other countries have enacted partial bans.
On Wednesday, Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin asked Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions whether he would support such a ban.
A day later, Mr Yusuf said on social media that it had been 'dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do'.
Shortly after that, he announced that he was quitting as Reform's chairman, saying that working to get the party elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'.
Party leader Nigel Farage said he had had only 10 minutes' notice that Mr Yusuf was going to resign, adding he was 'genuinely sorry' that his chairman had decided to stand down.
Mr Yusuf's resignation was accompanied by that of Nathaniel Fried, who was announced earlier this week as the head of a party team examining spending at Reform-controlled Kent County Council.
Mr Fried said that as Mr Yusuf had 'got me in' it was 'appropriate for me to leave with him'.
The resignations came as Reform UK hoped to win or come a close second in a by-election for the Holyrood seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.
In the end, the party came third with 7,088 votes, 869 votes behind the SNP and 1,471 behind the winning Labour candidate.
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Scotsman
44 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Frankly, those most harmed by Nicola Sturgeon's gender policies are in for more injustice
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The National
2 hours ago
- The National
The man behind Scotland and Corsica's enduring link
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The latter advised him to visit Corsica, the centre of European attention at the time because of its nationalist struggle against its overlord, Genoa. READ MORE: Trust selling Highland clan's land for £6.8m under investigation Boswell set sail from Livorno for Corsica. The journey across the island to meet Paoli was perilous both because of the threat of bandits and the precariousness of roads over the mountainous terrain. But Boswell was young and healthy, and also wealthy enough to be able to hire guards and porters. Corsica had endured centuries of foreign domination. It had been Papal territory but the Pope granted it to Pisa, who later ceded it to Genoa. The Genoese were oppressive rulers and in 1735, after decades of turbulence, Corsica declared independence. Paoli's father was a prominent figure among the rebels but the movement suffered various setbacks, causing the Paoli family to seek refuge in Naples. However, the movement grew in strength and a constitution was drawn up. In 1754 Paoli was invited to return in a leadership role and set about establishing the institutions of a state. In the commune of Corte, he founded a university that still bears his name; reformed criminal law; created a navy and established a currency. Corsica was an independent state between 1755 and 1768. The Corsican cause received international attention. Voltaire issued an enigmatic statement, still blazoned on placards at bus stops on the island, that 'Europe is Corsica'. In his tract The Social Contract, Rousseau wrote that 'the valour and constancy with which this brave people has been able to recover and defend its liberty would make it well worthwhile for some wise man to teach it how to preserve it.' Paoli was that man, and Boswell was keen to make his acquaintance. In 1765 he spent a month in Corsica and it had a deep impact. However, as with Johnson, Boswell got off to an unpromising start. Paoli feared this strange young foreigner was a spy but he was eventually reassured. Boswell explained that he was on his travels and, having been in Rome, he had come 'from seeing the ruins of one brave and free people to see the rise of another'. He reports that Paoli received the compliment graciously but observed that Corsica's 'situation and the modern political system' made it unthinkable that the island could never be 'a great conquering nation', although he was convinced 'it may be a very happy country'. Boswell won Paoli over with his candour, charm and intelligence. The two men formed a deep and lasting friendship, including on Boswell's side the element of deferential near-worship which was part of his character. The two met on a daily basis and, as he would do with Johnson, Boswell made notes of what was said, sometimes during the conversation, sometimes afterwards. These formed the basis of his work An Account of Corsica, The Journal of a Tour to That Island; and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli, published in London in 1768. It is not a relaxing read, with the earlier part an unremittingly serious historical study of Corsican history from classical times, including long quotations in ancient Greek and Latin. READ MORE: The tax haven firms given cash by the Scottish Government revealed But it bursts into life with the closing autobiographical Journal where Boswell records his travels. These sections are written with the verve, wit and vigour which mark his later Life of Johnson. The work was immediately translated and was an international success. However, independent Corsica's enemies now included France, which had been called on to support Genoa but which eventually, and permanently, succeeded Genoa as ruler of the island. One independence supporter was Carlo Bonaparte, father of Napoleon. 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Glasgow Times
5 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Drink-drive limit could be cut in plan to overhaul road safety laws
In a major overhaul of the UK's road safety laws, ministers are also considering tougher penalties for uninsured drivers and failing to wear a seatbelt, according to a report in The Times. The proposals, set to be published as part of a road safety strategy in the autumn, come amid concern about the number of people being killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads. Last year, 1,633 people were killed and almost 28,000 seriously injured in traffic incidents, and numbers have remained relatively constant following a large fall between 2000 and 2010. A Labour source said: 'At the end of the last Labour government, the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads was at a record low, but numbers have remained stubbornly high under successive Conservative governments. 'In no other circumstance would we accept 1,600 people dying, with thousands more seriously injured, costing the NHS more than £2 billion per year.' Meanwhile, the number of people killed in drink-driving incidents has risen over the past decade, reaching a 13-year high in 2022 and prompting concern that existing road safety measures are no longer working. Under the plans being considered by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the drink-drive limit in England and Wales could be cut from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath to 22 micrograms. This figure would be in line with Scotland, which cut its drink-drive limit in 2014, and the rest of Europe, where no other country has a limit as high as that in England and Wales. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is due to publish the Government's road safety strategy in the autumn (Jonathan Brady/PA) The UK is also one of only three European countries to rely on self-reporting of eyesight problems that affect driving, leading ministers to consider compulsory eye tests every three years for drivers aged over 70 and a driving ban for those who fail. Other proposals are reported to include allowing the police to bring prosecutions for drug-driving on the basis of roadside saliva tests rather than blood tests as increasing numbers of drivers are being caught with drugs in their system. The Labour source added: 'This Labour Government will deliver the first road safety strategy in a decade, imposing tougher penalties on those breaking the law, protecting road users and restoring order to our roads.' The strategy is due to be published in the autumn, and all proposals will be subject to consultation.
