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Straw asks Muslims to remove veil Straw asks Muslims to remove veil
(40 minutes later)
Muslim women in the UK who wear full veils make "better, positive relations" between communities "more difficult", Commons leader Jack Straw has said.Muslim women in the UK who wear full veils make "better, positive relations" between communities "more difficult", Commons leader Jack Straw has said.
Concealing a face was "a visible statement of separation and of difference", the Blackburn MP told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. Concealing a face was "a visible statement of separation and of difference", the Blackburn MP wrote in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.
He said he now asks women who have meetings with him to remove their veils so they can truly talk "face-to-face".He said he now asks women who have meetings with him to remove their veils so they can truly talk "face-to-face".
"My concerns could be misplaced, but I think there is an issue here," he said."My concerns could be misplaced, but I think there is an issue here," he said.
The Blackburn MP, who was home secretary from 1997 to 2001 and foreign secretary until 2005, said: "The value of a meeting, as opposed to a letter or phone call, is so that you can - almost literally - see what the other person means, and not just hear what they say. What I'm saying on the other side is, would those people who do wear the veil think about the implications for community relations, Jack StrawUK Cabinet minister
"My point to these ladies and to the community is that this is an issue that needs to be discussed. The Blackburn MP, who was home secretary from 1997 to 2001, and then foreign secretary until 2005, said: "The value of a meeting, as opposed to a letter or phone call, is that you can - almost literally - see what the other person means, and not just hear what they say."
"Because in our society, we are able to relate to particularly strangers, by being able to read their faces and if you can't read their faces that does provide some separation." Mr Straw later told BBC Radio Lancashire that this was "an issue that needs to be discussed because in our society, we are able to relate, particularly to strangers, by being able to read their faces, and if you can't read people's faces, that does provide some separation".
Mr Straw said his constituents had so far always agreed to lift their veil when he has asked. Headscarf
He said he had thought about the issue "a lot" and conceded his concerns "could be misplaced" - but he went on to say that he thought "there is an issue here". He said he understood why some women wanted to be covered, citing a recent meeting with a constituent who "said she felt more comfortable when she was outside wearing the veil and she was less troubled by people".
"I understand that. What I'm saying on the other side is, would those people who do wear the veil think about the implications for community relations," he said.
Mr Straw said he always made sure he had a female colleague in the room when asking someone to remove their veil.
He said his constituents had so far always agreed to lift their veil when he has asked.
Mr Straw also said he defended the right for women to wear headscarfs - which, he said, was the issue in France which had led to recent controversy.