THE leader of Ukip Scotland, David Coburn, has distanced himself from the party’s controversial “integration agenda” that calls for a ban on the burqa.
“I do not support ban the Burqha on Libertarian grounds. Impossible to ban articles of clothing or Faith that does mean I condone the Burqha” MEP David Coburn tweeted.
He added: “I do not condone the Burqha I simply do not wish to ban the Burqha.”
The proposals, unveiled on Monday, also included a moratorium on Islamic faith schools, mandatory checks on teenage girls to make sure they’re not the victims of Female Genital Mutilation, and an explicit ban on Sharia councils in Britain.
They were widely condemned by politicians and faith groups. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party co-leader, described them as “full-throttled Islamophobia”.
Harun Khan, the Muslim Council of Britain’s secretary general, said the party were stereotyping Muslims around “bombs, beards and burqas”.
Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4, Peter Whittle, the party’s deputy leader, defended the policies, adding: “The burqa is not something in the Quran, it’s not specified by the Quran, it’s a cultural practice, FGM is a cultural practice.”
In perhaps the oddest intervention of the campaign so far, the party were forced to clarify their policy to make it clear beekeepers would be exempt.
Whittle said applying the law to apiarists would be “ridiculous”.
The policy also saw the party’s foreign affair spokesman resign in disgust. James Carver, MEP for the West Midlands, said that “no one has the right to dictate what people should wear”.
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