Nigel Farage, has announced that UKIP, the main party in the EFD group, are calling for the traditional Muslim clothing, worn by women to be Banned. Going further than the far-right British National Party, who are accused of neo-fascist ideology and only wish to prohibit the wearing of the burqa in schools. UKIP are asking for the burqa, that covers the body and the nijab, or veil to be banned from public and private places. 
 
Justifying the policy, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the leader of UKIP said that, "It makes sense to ban the burka — or anything which conceals a woman’s face — in public buildings. But we want to make it possible to ban them in private buildings. It isn’t right that you can’t see someone's face in an airport.” It was also said that the burqa is oppressive to women's rights, not an issue that UKIP have been associated with. Pearson said "We are not Muslim bashing, but this is incompatible with Britain’s values of freedom and democracy.” Speaking on British TV, Nigel Farage, who resigned the leadership to fight a parliamentary seat in the next British election remarked that "another culture is being forced on parts of Britain and nobody wants that". 
 
Pearson has campaigned for a harder stance against Islam in his successful leadership campaign, amid "statements like “What is going to decide the answer to that is the birthrate. The fact that Muslims are breeding ten times faster than us. I do not know at what point they reach such a number that we are no longer able to resist the rest of their demands . . . but if we do not do something now within the next year or two we have in effect lost.” Before becoming party leader, Pearson was behind the controversial invitation to Geert Wilders to visit the UK parliament to show his film Fitna. Wilders has also compared the Quran to Hitler's Mein Kampf and is currently trying to avoid prosecution in the Netherlands for allegedly inciting hatred against Muslims. 
 
Policy Under Fire 
 
There hasn't been complete support for this new strategy. Some have noted that on issues like climate change and the EU, UKIP policy is very similar to the BNP. The website Bloggers 4 UKIP, had criticism of this latest move, and Bob Feal-Martinez wrote "Aside from the fact that once again a policy announcement has been made without any consultation with the membership, is this call to ban the Burqa simply pandering to those who might just vote BNP." and he feared that "I think in future we as front line members interacting with our peers will now find it just a touch more difficult to convince the public we are not the BNP in Blazers." 
 
Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council for Britain, told The Times: “UKIP is supposed to be proud of Britain’s traditions and values, which include freedom of speech, association and religion. The overwhelming majority of women who wear the burqa do so out of a sense of religious duty. It is their interpretation of their religion. UKIP have no right to overrule that. It is nobody else’s business.” 
 
Libertarianism Questioned 
 
The policy does seem at odds with the libertarian trend of recent years, when advocating a much lessened role of government on people's lives, they now have the desire to legislate what people can wear, in public and private. Citing security concerns for a ban is not seen as relevant by professionals. 
 
Not being able to see someone's face clearly only helps stop terrorism if there is a definite 'look' of a terrorist. Perhaps Pearson has found a way to identify terrorists just by looking at them. Given that terrorists can come from both genders and any ethnic background it is hard to see how these measures aren't targeted solely at Muslims, for if it is wrong for a burqa to conceal a face, then why is it OK for a balaclava to be worn, publicly and privately? How does banning a burqa or negating the nijab help fight against right wing terrorists, like nail bomber David Copeland. In July last year British police uncovered a ring of 32 right wing extremists in the country, who had amassed 300 weapons and 80 bombs. How would it have helped catch Terrance Gavan, the BNP Gold member, who had collected 54 improvised explosive devices and 12 firearms? 
 
Perhaps it is not coincidental that the policy, if it could be called that, was announced just after Nikki Sinclaire MEP announced that she was leaving the EFD Group, saying that "I have decided to move to this non-attached group as I have found it increasingly difficult to justify sitting alongside one or two of the European parties within the EFD group who have a variety of extremist views which includes anti-Semitism, violence and the espousal of a single European policy on immigration." 
 
Another factor could be that Mr Farage is fighting the BNP and other fringe parties in a challenge to the speaker of the British Parliament. By precedent, the major parties do not challenge the office holder and Farage is hoping to use the incumbent's unpopularity to win UKIP's first  seat in Westminster and gaining the support of those inclined towards the BNP, could make the difference between victory and defeat. However, as one angry UKIP member wrote on a UKIP forum, "What is the political strategy here? By wooing voters from the small BNP pond we'll miss out on disillusioned voters from the BIG MAINSTREAM pond." Others agreed, describing the idea as "madness, absolute madness", " 
 
On the party's website Nigel Farage was clear, "though this is a controversial topic, UKIP wants a wide, public debate on this issue. If we don't bring it out in the open, you can be sure none of the other parties will."