Labour Accuse Robert Jenrick Of 'Peddling Division' Over Call To Ban The Burqa

Robert Jenrick, UK shadow justice secretary, on the opening day of the UK Conservative Party conference in Manchester.Labour have accused Robert Jenrick of “peddling division” after he backed a ban of women wearing the burqa in the UK.The shadow justice secretary broke ranks with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch with his comments, which he made in a phone-in show on Talk.Jenrick said: “I probably would ban the burqa.”After being reminded that Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin made a similar call in the House of Commons in June, he said: “She did, but you’ve also seen Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, say in the last week that this is something that she’s going to pursue.“So I think there’s definitely a strong argument for it. There are basic values in this country and we should stand up and defend them.“And where you’re seeing them fraying at the edges or frankly being completely destroyed, whether it’s Sharia courts or the wearing of the burqa, these are issues we’re going to have to confront if we want to build the kind of society that we want to hand on to our kids and grandkids.”But speaking in June, Badenoch said she was not in favour of the state deciding what people can and cannot wear.She said: “Are we going to send police officers into people’s homes to check if they’re wearing the burqa at a time when we can’t even keep prisoners in prison, we’re releasing them?“Do we have space in prison to put people wearing the burqa in there? This is what I mean by people just saying things, announcing policies without plans.”A Labour Party spokesperson said: “This is another open challenge to Kemi Badenoch’s authority from her once and future leadership rival.“Just this summer the Tory leader said that banning the burka wouldn’t fix the problems of integration and that people should be allowed to wear whatever they want; now Robert Jenrick is saying the opposite.“Kemi Badenoch has repeatedly proven herself to be too weak to stand up to her shadow justice secretary – it’s a complete failure of leadership.“While the Tories and Reform peddle division and anger, Labour is focussed on delivering the renewal Britain needs.”Posting on X, Labour MP Sam Rushworth said a burqa ban would be “anti-British”.“It goes against what our nation stands for,” he said.That's so anti-British. It goes against what our nation stands for.— Sam Rushworth MP (@SamJRushworth) October 21, 2025Zia Yusuf quit as Reform UK chairman in the wake of Pochin’s call to ban the burqa.He said at the time it was “dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do”.Yusuf returned to the party just two days later following talks with Nigel Farage.He said: “I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down. So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled.”Related...Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf Resigns With Parting Jibe After Burqa RowNew Reform UK MP Stuns The Commons With Outrageous Request In PMQs

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