The Senedd, Wales's devolved parliament, was the scene of angry protests and intense debate as members of Reform UK called for a ban on face coverings in public places, specifically mentioning burkas and balaclavas. The party has previously stated its intention to implement such a ban if it were to gain power in a Westminster election.
During a debate opened by Reform UK Member of the Senedd (MS) for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Jason O'Connell, the focus initially shifted to young men wearing balaclavas. O'Connell argued that these coverings facilitate anti-social behavior and make streets feel unsafe by concealing identities, making accountability difficult. He stated, "For these individuals, face coverings are a way to conceal their identity, to make it harder for authorities to hold them accountable." He added that "face coverings have no place in British and Welsh society."
Turning to the burka, O'Connell, who initiated the debate, stated, "We have no issue or problem with Islam or Muslims." However, he continued, "We do have an issue with people living amongst our communities hiding their identities." He extended this sentiment to protesters who cover their faces, regardless of their political affiliation.
Fellow Reform MS Francesca O'Brien, facing frequent interruptions, described face coverings, including the burka, as "anti-British." She asserted, "Not all cultures are equal, we cannot continue to import alien cultures into this country and expect integration." She further commented that "Oppressive beliefs are totally at odds with our history and culture" and that "Banning these coverings is simple, common sense."
Reform MS Joe Martin contended that the burka and niqab are "two of the many ways in which fundamentalist Islam is uniquely incompatible with Western civilization." He questioned the ability to distinguish between individuals who wear such coverings, asking, "If two Muslim women live in the same street and they both wear burkas, how are we meant to tell them apart?" He also suggested that assimilation requires the abandonment of religious face coverings, advocating for their ban to encourage this.
The debate saw sharp rebuttals from other parties. Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams described the debate as "shameful" and accused Reform members of "conflating the intimidating behaviour of thugs... with the very people who are targeted by that intimidating behaviour." She rejected the notion that face coverings worn for religious reasons signify a lack of British or Welsh values, drawing a parallel to the Nuremberg Laws imposed on Jewish people in 1930s Germany, which stripped them of their identity and led to persecution.
Carrie Harper, Plaid MS for Fflint Wrecsam, questioned Reform's stance on women's rights, asking, "How on earth can you claim to stand up for women when you are trying to dictate what Muslim women can and cannot wear?" Plaid MS Kiera Marshall shared an account of a Muslim woman in her constituency being physically assaulted while being told to remove her headscarf, linking such incidents to the rhetoric employed by Reform.
Labour's Huw Thomas pointed out Reform's silence on "masked mobs who stormed RNLI stations across of South Coast, last month," referring to anti-migrant protests that led to a lifeboat station in Portsmouth going out of service.
Ahead of the Senedd debate, a protest was held on the steps, with Plaid Cymru and Labour MSs joining. Suwayba Hussein, a participant from Cardiff, accused Reform of using the debate "to push Islamophobia." She stated, "The Reform party are a racist party, and this is another way of them pushing their racism into mainstream debate." O'Connell, however, dismissed accusations of racism and Islamophobia as "tired, ineffective, and clearly wildly inaccurate."
Reform UK, the second-largest group in the Welsh Parliament, has used Wednesday short debates to raise contentious issues since the election. The Senedd's presiding officer, Huw Irranca-Davies, did not consider the debate's title, "full-face coverings are against British values," to be in violation of guidelines against disorderly, discriminatory, or offensive language.