Kemi Badenoch blasts Nigel Farage's Reform over support for a burka ban saying enforcing it would be a waste of police time

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Kemi Badenoch hit out at Reform MPs for backing a burka ban today, saying policing what people wear would be a waste of officers' time.
The Opposition leader said that she was against women being forced to wear clothing against their wishes.
But she suggested that Reform's support for a ban on the Islamic outfit - which covers the whole body, apart from a gauze veil over the eyes - was 'a policy without a plan'.
At the weekend Ms Badenoch backed giving employers the right to insist staff wore clothing that showed their face at work.
But speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, she appeared to rule out going any further.
She said that women should not 'be forced to wear things that their husbands and their community want', but added: 'Are we going to send police officers into people's homes to check if they are wearing the burka at a time when we cannot even keep prisoners in prison, (when) we are releasing them?
'Do we have space in prison to put people wearing the burka in?
'This is what I mean by people just saying things, announcing policies without plans.'
The last week has seen Nigel Farage's party riven by a row over the idea of a burka ban.
Chairman Zia Yusuf briefly quit after MP Sarah Pochin asked about it at Prime Minister's Questions last week.
But other Reform MPs including Lee Anderson and Richard Tice have also backed a law telling women what they can and cannot wear.
Ms Badenoch revealed at the weekend that she will not see anyone at surgeries in her North East Essex constituency if they have a face covering.
And this morning she told Today that she had done so.
British employers are able to set their own workplace dress codes, but could face legal challenges under equality law if they tell staff to remove religious clothing without demonstrating it is 'proportionate' and for a 'legitimate' aim, such as health and safety.