Laila Cunningham, a candidate for Reform UK mayor for the 2028 London mayoral election, has faced criticism since calling on the police to stop and search women in public wearing the burqa. Her remarks have met with fierce resistance across the U.K. Cunningham said in an interview with The Standard that she would seek laws to prohibit people from wearing face-covering clothing in public areas and provide police with more stop and search powers, despite making no specific evidence for that assertion whatsoever. She said: “If you are hiding your face, you are hiding it for criminal reasons.”
The comment was widely condemned as an unsupported generalisation. Human Rights Groups and Community Leaders Reply. Baroness Shaista Gohir – member of the House of Lords, chief executive of Muslim Women’s Network UK – denounced Cunningham’s comments as “dangerous” as well as a “dog whistle” to anti-Muslim feeling. Gohir said the organization had had to clear signage and staff photographs from outside its sites after a spike in threatening emails, letters and harassment incidents. “She’s making a point that Muslims do not belong, and is giving people who harass Muslim communities a morale boost,” Gohir said. Cunningham Background and Reflections. Cunningham, who is British born of Egyptian heritage, also said on a podcast interview that:
“If you go to certain areas of London, it genuinely feels like a Muslim city. The signs are written in different languages, and burqas are being sold in markets.” She also contended that cities such as Manchester should have “only one civic culture, and that should be British culture.” Mayor of London Responds. Responding to Cunningham’s comments during a radio interview, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it meant a conscious attempt to “sow division in our society.” He said London’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, he wonders why anyone would want to restrict religious expression. Khan also cautioned against rolling back basic freedoms, including freedom of religion and freedom of expression — values he said that Britain has long prided itself on.
On the matter of banning the burqa Khan stressed that women should have the right to choose what they wear. Reactions from Other Politicians. Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Rusholme, rejected Cunningham’s comments on the grounds of: “a calculated ploy to inflame divisions for electoral purposes.” Reform UK Statement. A spokesperson for Reform UK argued for the proposal, adding that while it has become an urgent issue with rising crime in London, expanded stop-and-search powers are needed, and that police officers should not be afraid of bias assumptions when carrying out the job.
