Banning the wearing of the Islamic full veil in public would be “un-British”, the immigration minister has said. Damian Green told the Sunday Telegraph trying to pass such a law would be at odds with the UK’s “tolerant and mutually respectful society”. It comes after Tory MP Philip Hollobone introduced a private members’ bill which would make it illegal for people to cover their faces in public and after French MPs voted to ban the wearing of full face veils in public last week.
The Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, agreed saying: “I take a strong view on this, actually, that I don’t, living in this country, as a woman, want to be told what I can and can’t wear.” Spelman also stirred some controversy by saying that women were “empowered” by the freedom to wear the face cover.
