The British state should back institutions such as schools and courthouses that require individuals to remove face-coverings worn by some Muslim women, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
The issue of Muslim women wearing full veils has risen up the agenda after a judge ruled that a woman could not give evidence at a trial wearing a niqab and a school tried to ban veils before backtracking due to heavy criticism and protests.
One cabinet minister also suggested the British government should consider a full ban. “We are a free country and people should be free to wear whatever clothes they like in public or in private,” Cameron told BBC Television on the first day of the annual Conservative party conference in Manchester.
“But we should support institutions that need to put in place rules so that those institutions can work properly. In court a jury needs to be able to look at someone’s face.”
Britain, which is looking at ways to better integrate its 2.7 million Muslims without restricting the right to freedom of religious expression, has avoided following France and Belgium, where it is illegal for women to wear full-face veils in public.