Britain rules out possibilities of burqa ban

London, July 18: Britain ruled out the possibilities that it will not follow France by introducing a law banning women from wearing the facial veil or 'burqa'.

According to the BBC, the Immigration Minister Damian Green has said that such a move would be "rather un-British" and run contrary to the conventions of a "tolerant and mutually respectful society".

"It would be undesirable for Parliament to vote on a burqa ban in Britain and that there was no prospect of the coalition proposing it," he said.

His comments might dismay the growing number of supporters of a ban.

Last week, a YouGov survey found that 67 per cent of voters wanted the wearing of full-face veils to be made illegal.

Talking about the burqa ban in France, he said that the French political culture is very different as they are an aggressively secular state.

"We have schools run explicitly by religions. I think there's absolutely no read-across to immigration policy from what the French are doing about the burqa," he said.

Green's comments came after the new head of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Farooq Murad expressed his views that Britain is the most welcoming country in Europe for Muslims.

Murad pointed to the spread of mosques and sharia, or Islamic law, as positive signs of the greater freedom Muslims are given in the country.

Green also sent out a clear "message to the world that Britain is no longer a soft touch on immigration".

ANI