Reform UK row as party chair calls new MP’s burqa ban question ‘dumb’

Sarah Pochin, who won the recent Runcorn and Helsby byelection, asked a question about banning the burqa in parliament on Wednesday. Photograph: House of Commons

A row has broken out in Reform UK after its newest MP called on the prime minister to ban the burqa, with the party’s chair, Zia Yusuf, saying it was a “dumb” question given that was not party policy.

Sarah Pochin, who recently won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection, asked Keir Starmer in parliament on Wednesday: “Given the prime minister’s desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he in the interests of public safety follow the lead of France, Denmark, Belgium and others and ban the burqa?”