Farage calls for a ban on face coverings in public, including religious veils

Nigel Farage wants the United Kingdom to ban full face coverings in public places, including balaclavas worn during protests and religious veils.

The Reform UK leader condemned the use of balaclavas by hundreds of people who took part in anti-irregular immigration demonstrations in Dover and Portsmouth in southern England last weekend. “I am totally in favour of protest. There is much to protest about. But, seriously, this is not the way to do it,” he wrote in The Telegraph.

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I am totally in favour of protest. There is much to protest about. But, seriously, this is not the way to do it.

Farage said face coverings could intimidate people and called for a ban without exceptions. “A free and open society fundamentally depends on trust,” he wrote. He described showing one’s face as part of a basic social contract and said removing that expectation weakens public security and mutual trust.

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A free and open society fundamentally depends on trust.

He acknowledged that the proposal would draw objections in the name of civil and personal liberties. Farage nevertheless described showing the face as a basic matter of social cohesion, arguing that politically radical or fundamentalist religious practices could create parallel societies and undermine integration.

He pointed to France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland as countries that have approved laws banning full face coverings in public places.

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There must be no exceptions and no buts. And yes, that includes religious garments.