Ukip announce plan to impose ban on the burka in public

Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has called for a ban on burkas, saying that they are a security concern and that they prevent integration.

He told Andrew Marr on his flagship Sunday BBC show: "I don't believe that you can integrate fully and enjoy the fruits of British society if you can't see people's faces."

Nuttall said that he proposes that women who wear the burka in public should be fined, as they are in other countries like France.

He added that Germany and the EU is considering an EU-wide ban on the piece of clothing, which is worn by Muslim women and covers their body and face.

Last year, a survey revealed that a burka ban was backed by 57% of Britons.

Andrew Marr said that Nuttall had said in 2013 he did not support a burka ban, and Nuttall said that integration is "getting worse" in Britain and that the burka was a key issue.

"I can't walk into a bank with a balaclava on or a crash helmet," he said. "If I can't do it, and other people can't do it, I don't see why we have a special interest case."

He also said that Ukip would stop Sharia courts, because he does not believe there should be "parallel legal systems".

Marr pressed him on other religious courts, but Nuttall said that Beth Din courts - the Jewish equivalent - are different because "the Jewish orthodox population in Britain is falling".