'You cannot go looking up young girls' skirts!' - Ukip leadership race decends into bitter row over Islam
3 min read
The Ukip leadership race exploded into a bitter row over Islam in Britain and the controversial practice of Female Genital Mutilation last night as candidates took part in the first official hustings.
MEP Jane Collins insisted it was wrong to propose routine FGM checks for girls, while anti-Islam candidate Anne-Marie Waters branded her opponent “arrogant”.
The issue of Islam in the UK has fast become the most contentious for the party after the EU referendum win last year – with deep splits on how to approach it bursting to the fore.
Answering a question posed by PoliticsHome, current deputy leader Peter Whittle told the central London event that he would keep the burka ban and FGM check policies proposed by the previous regime.
The plans sparked anger when they were announced by former leader Paul Nuttall – with Ukip’s staunchly libertarian wing furious at the prospect of imposing such control on people’s lives.
Ms Collins said FGM must be tackled through education rather than routine checks for young children, insisting: “You cannot go looking up young girls' skirts!”
But Mr Whittle said a focus on education and holding statutory bodies to account “comes down to ‘do nothing’”.
Ms Waters weighed in, arguing: “How arrogant to think that people don’t know what they are doing when they commit FGM – they do. They believe it.”
She added: “These are criminal acts. It’s time to enforce British law – not just in words but in action.”
At the debate’s most heated point, Ms Collins said: “Anne Marie, do you have a daughter? Well I do, and if my daughter was subject to something like that at school I would be outraged – outraged!”
But Ms Waters replied: “I don’t have a daughter but that does not mean I don’t care about the children in this country.
“And significantly if I had a daughter she would be at no risk of having her genitals mutilated and being maimed for life.
“We are not talking about stripping children in a classroom here, we are talking about professionals carrying out discreet examinations of at-risk children.”
'UKIP UNITED'
Mr Nuttall resigned in June after the party bombed at the general election – winning just 600,000 votes compared to almost 4 million two years ago and losing its only seat.
Three of the candidates recently stepped down to get behind Ms Collins in a bid to block Ms Waters from winning the contest under a 'Ukip United' banner.
Last night Ms Waters hit out at the "tactics and manipulation" going on and accused her rivals of "EU-type behaviour" and trying to "silence" her.
The new Ukip leader will be announced at the party's Torquay conference on 29 September.
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