A government minister has signalled that a French-style ban on women wearing burqas is unlikely to be replicated in the UK, because, he said, the idea was "unBritish" and "undesirable".
The immigration minister, Damian Green, said banning Muslim women from covering their faces in public would be at odds with the UK's "tolerant and mutually respectful society".
The move to ban the burqa was backed by France's lower house last week. With public support, it is expected to pass through the upper house in September. The law will fine women who continue wearing the face covering €150 (£117). Men who make women wear the cover will be given a one-year prison sentence or £25,000 fine.
Philip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, has tabled a private member's bill calling for parliament to act similarly, saying he personally will not meet women wearing either the burqa or niqab but instead will ask them to "communicate with him differently" by sending a letter.
But Green told the Sunday Telegraph: "I stand personally on the feeling that telling people what they can and can't wear, if they're just walking down the street, is a rather un-British thing to do. We're a tolerant and mutually respectful society.
Full story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/18/burqa-ban-unbritish-immigration-minister