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Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said that Muslim women should be free to wear the veil, adding that the debate over the issue could increase prejudice and damage community relations, The Telegraph reported.
Prescott’s comments largely isolated House of Commons leader Jack Straw, who angered the Muslim community last week when he described the veil as a “visible statement of separation”, and said he asked women visiting his constituency office in Blackburn to take it off.
Prescott said that Straw had the right to raise the issue, stressing that it shouldn’t be a "no go area for debate".
But he expressed concern that such debate could lead to "considerable difficulties" in terms of community relations.
"I think a woman who wants to wear a veil - why shouldn't she? It is her choice. It is a cultural difference but it is her choice," he said.
Prescott also stressed that he wouldn’t follow Straw’s example and ask women visiting him to remove their veil.
"If somebody comes into my constituency, whether they are wearing a skull cap or wearing a turban or very dark glasses, I'm not going to ask them to remove it. I think you can communicate with them,” he said.
Other top UK officials agreed with Prescott, including the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities, and Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales.
Patricia Hewitt said she wouldn’t ask Muslim women to take off their veils. She admitted that she had, in the past, considered the veil as a symbol of oppression, but changed her mind after a meeting with a Muslim woman in her Leicester West constituency.
“She'd made the decision - not her parents or anybody else - that she wanted, as part of her statement of her faith, to wear the veil. I would not ask her to take that off or to change a decision that she has made as an adult woman," she told BBC1's Politics Show.
Prescott’s comments largely isolated House of Commons leader Jack Straw, who angered the Muslim community last week when he described the veil as a “visible statement of separation”, and said he asked women visiting his constituency office in Blackburn to take it off.
Prescott said that Straw had the right to raise the issue, stressing that it shouldn’t be a "no go area for debate".
But he expressed concern that such debate could lead to "considerable difficulties" in terms of community relations.
"I think a woman who wants to wear a veil - why shouldn't she? It is her choice. It is a cultural difference but it is her choice," he said.
Prescott also stressed that he wouldn’t follow Straw’s example and ask women visiting him to remove their veil.
"If somebody comes into my constituency, whether they are wearing a skull cap or wearing a turban or very dark glasses, I'm not going to ask them to remove it. I think you can communicate with them,” he said.
Other top UK officials agreed with Prescott, including the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities, and Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales.
Patricia Hewitt said she wouldn’t ask Muslim women to take off their veils. She admitted that she had, in the past, considered the veil as a symbol of oppression, but changed her mind after a meeting with a Muslim woman in her Leicester West constituency.
“She'd made the decision - not her parents or anybody else - that she wanted, as part of her statement of her faith, to wear the veil. I would not ask her to take that off or to change a decision that she has made as an adult woman," she told BBC1's Politics Show.
