Kemi Badenoch says she does not speak to women in burqas at constituency surgery | Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has said she will not speak to women wearing burqas in her constituency surgery, and argued that employers should be able to ban their staff from wearing face coverings.

The Conservative leader gave her views after the newest Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, triggered a debate over the subject by pressing the prime minister on whether he would follow the lead of other European countries such as France in banning the burqa.

Badenoch said an interview with the Sunday Telegraph that there were other things that were “more insidious”, such as sharia courts, and that women should be able to wear what they like.

But she said that if people came to her constituency surgery, she asked them to remove face coverings, whether they were balaclavas or burqas. She also said employers should…