Last Friday, an incident took place at our party conference that sickened me right to my stomach.
In broad daylight, a young Reform UK member was hit with a rock, leaving him badly bloodied. He was supposed to be making his way to his first ever party conference. Instead, he was left hospitalised.
His assailant, surprise surprise, was a man wearing a facial covering.
Meanwhile, a few hours later in Dover, around 500 activists wearing face coverings and balaclavas marched on to major roads, bringing traffic in and out of Britain’s busiest ferry hub to a standstill. They were protesting about the government’s failure to halt migrants arriving here in small boats across the Channel.
Now, I’m all for the protest. There’s plenty to protest about. But seriously, this is not the way to go about it.
Because let’s be clear. Face coverings are a menace. Whether it is a heavy-duty balaclava worn by a gang member or the dark mask of “Antifa” extremists, the purpose is to bully and intimidate.
Walk down any high street in Britain of an evening, and you will see a sight that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. Ordinary, law-abiding citizens actively crossing the road to avoid approaching figures. Why? Because the person walking toward them has deliberately obscured their identity.
Around city centres, balaclava-clad youths tear around neighbourhoods on e-bikes and scooters, terrorising residents, making them feel unsafe in their own communities. We’ve somehow accepted that seeing masked people in the streets is just part of modern Britain. It shouldn’t be.
Which is why Reform UK is calling for a ban on all full-face coverings in public spaces. No ifs, no buts. And yes, that includes religious ones too.
Because a free and open society depends fundamentally on trust. That trust is built on a simple, ancient social contract: I show you my face, you show me yours. When you strip that away, the entire fabric of public safety and mutual trust begins to fray.
Just look at what is happening on our streets. Criminals and shoplifters now routinely use facial concealment as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Britain has one of the highest numbers of CCTV cameras per capita in the entire world, yet law-breaking mobs roam our city centres with absolute impunity because they know the police cannot identify them.
There is precedent for this, of course. Walk into a petrol station or bank in a facial covering and they are legally permitted to ask you to remove it. Why should that not be the case everywhere?
Doubtless the establishment will throw up its hands in horror. The usual suspects in Westminster will inevitably bleat about civil liberties and personal freedom.
But what about the liberty of the elderly woman afraid to step outside her front door after dark? What about the freedom of small shopkeepers trying to defend their livelihoods against masked looters? What about the safety of our member on Friday morning?
It’s also a simple matter of basic social cohesion. A modern nation cannot function when groups of people actively opt out of basic civic interaction. Whether motivated by radical political ideologies or fundamentalist religious practices, hiding one’s face isolates individuals from the wider community.
It creates parallel societies, undermines integration and signals an outright rejection of British liberal values.
Our European neighbours clocked this long ago. Countries like France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland have all implemented legislation banning full-face coverings in public places.
Because they realised that a democracy cannot survive when citizens become completely anonymous to one another. Why should Britain be the soft touch that lags behind?
This is not a matter of targeting one group. It’s about saying that in a civilised society, people should be identifiable in public. If you want to walk on British streets, participate in British public life, and enjoy the protections of British law, you must be prepared to show your face.
Facial coverings, quite frankly, are not the British way. Let’s ban them in public once and for all.
(This is a slightly edited version of an article published in the Telegraph on 8th September.)
In broad daylight, a young Reform UK member was hit with a rock, leaving him badly bloodied. He was supposed to be making his way to his first ever party conference. Instead, he was left hospitalised.
His assailant, surprise surprise, was a man wearing a facial covering.
Meanwhile, a few hours later in Dover, around 500 activists wearing face coverings and balaclavas marched on to major roads, bringing traffic in and out of Britain’s busiest ferry hub to a standstill. They were protesting about the government’s failure to halt migrants arriving here in small boats across the Channel.
Now, I’m all for the protest. There’s plenty to protest about. But seriously, this is not the way to go about it.
Because let’s be clear. Face coverings are a menace. Whether it is a heavy-duty balaclava worn by a gang member or the dark mask of “Antifa” extremists, the purpose is to bully and intimidate.
Walk down any high street in Britain of an evening, and you will see a sight that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. Ordinary, law-abiding citizens actively crossing the road to avoid approaching figures. Why? Because the person walking toward them has deliberately obscured their identity.
Around city centres, balaclava-clad youths tear around neighbourhoods on e-bikes and scooters, terrorising residents, making them feel unsafe in their own communities. We’ve somehow accepted that seeing masked people in the streets is just part of modern Britain. It shouldn’t be.
Which is why Reform UK is calling for a ban on all full-face coverings in public spaces. No ifs, no buts. And yes, that includes religious ones too.
Because a free and open society depends fundamentally on trust. That trust is built on a simple, ancient social contract: I show you my face, you show me yours. When you strip that away, the entire fabric of public safety and mutual trust begins to fray.
Just look at what is happening on our streets. Criminals and shoplifters now routinely use facial concealment as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Britain has one of the highest numbers of CCTV cameras per capita in the entire world, yet law-breaking mobs roam our city centres with absolute impunity because they know the police cannot identify them.
There is precedent for this, of course. Walk into a petrol station or bank in a facial covering and they are legally permitted to ask you to remove it. Why should that not be the case everywhere?
Doubtless the establishment will throw up its hands in horror. The usual suspects in Westminster will inevitably bleat about civil liberties and personal freedom.
But what about the liberty of the elderly woman afraid to step outside her front door after dark? What about the freedom of small shopkeepers trying to defend their livelihoods against masked looters? What about the safety of our member on Friday morning?
It’s also a simple matter of basic social cohesion. A modern nation cannot function when groups of people actively opt out of basic civic interaction. Whether motivated by radical political ideologies or fundamentalist religious practices, hiding one’s face isolates individuals from the wider community.
It creates parallel societies, undermines integration and signals an outright rejection of British liberal values.
Our European neighbours clocked this long ago. Countries like France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland have all implemented legislation banning full-face coverings in public places.
Because they realised that a democracy cannot survive when citizens become completely anonymous to one another. Why should Britain be the soft touch that lags behind?
This is not a matter of targeting one group. It’s about saying that in a civilised society, people should be identifiable in public. If you want to walk on British streets, participate in British public life, and enjoy the protections of British law, you must be prepared to show your face.
Facial coverings, quite frankly, are not the British way. Let’s ban them in public once and for all.
(This is a slightly edited version of an article published in the Telegraph on 8th September.)
Photo by Peter Scherbatykh.
