UKIP's idea of integration: Burqa ban and vaginal examinations

Here's a lesson in integration: pick on one religion and revolve your policies around the discrimination of that group, because that's the way to bring communities together, right UKIP?
Narrated
3 min read
The New Arab Staff

The New Arab

25 Apr, 2017
UKIP's Leader Paul Nuttall is just as confused as we are about the agenda [Getty]
So, Britain's far-right party UKIP wants to promote integration by oppressing British Muslim women and girls.

UKIP's so-called integration agenda includes a series of policies that mainly focused on Islam and Muslims. It included imposing vaginal examinations for Muslim school girls and banning the burqa.

"Our bold new integration agenda aims to bring communities together," the anti-European Union party said in its agenda unveiled on Monday ahead of Britain's June 8 election.

Well, it seems it did in fact do a great job in bringing communities together, not to condone its ludicrous policies, but rather to condemn what many have labelled as Islamophobic.
UKIP wants to "pass a law against the wearing of face coverings in public spaces" claiming face coverings are a "deliberate barrier to integration and, in many contexts, a security risk too."  

That means you too, beekeepers...

"I think in practical terms any such policy would have to have a series of exemptions for people who used 'Burqa type' clothing for their work," Martin Smith, Public Affairs Director for the British Beekeepers Association said, after the group demanded UKIP clarify their policy on banning face coverings.


A statement from the party also added that it would "implement school-based medical checks on girls from groups at high risk of female genital mutilation" as well as the prosecution of parents of girls subjected to the procedure.

A ban on Sharia law was also on its agenda, as well as a halt to Islamic faith schools.

The party also called for longer prison sentences for grooming gangs, which target victims of "a different racial or religious group", a reference to a famous case of child sexual abuse by British-Pakistani men.

Britain has become "more fragmented" because of mass immigration, Peter Whittle, UKIP's deputy leader, said.

"Nobody voted for multiculturalism and yet we are now living with the results of it… The old parties have closed down the debate" on British identity for so long.

The party's "integration policies" have been slammed by online commenters as deeply xenophobic and caused widespread condemnation and mockery:


Some critics have also said that the agenda was a “desperate” effort to stay relevant now. UKIP played a major role in Britain's decision last year to leave the EU but is struggling to remain relevant now that it has achieved its main goal.


What are your thoughts on UKIP's so-called integration agenda? Join the conversation by tweeting us @The_NewArab
 
More in Opinion