Ukip’s focus on the burqa shows the party has little left to offer on Brexit

The launch of Ukip’s new ‘integration agenda’ today was notable for two reasons. Firstly, Paul Nuttall refused to say whether he would seek a parliamentary seat in the snap election — eventually barricading himself in a locked room away from pesky hacks.

The second thing to note was Ukip’s focus on the burqa. Overall, the new agenda had a distinctly anti-Islam focus. Nuttall — along with deputy leader Peter Whittle — said a Ukip government would pass a law against th­e wearing of face cov­erings in public plac­es, enforce an immediate closure of ­schools where there i­s evidence of Islamis­t ideology being taug­ht, and bring in annual school-base­d medical checks on g­irls at risk of suffering­ FGM. They added that these should also take place whenever said girls return­ from trips overseas.

The Green Party’s Caroline Lucas has been quick off the mark to accuse Nuttall of ‘full throttled Islamaphobia’ — describing the proposed policies as ‘an assault on multiculturalism and an attack on Muslims’. Some of the outrage is misguided. In truth, Ukip are not the first to moot many of these policies. While a ban on face veils is something that was once on a BNP manifesto, it’s also the policy of the EU’s largest political party, the EPP. What’s more, it’s actually Labour’s Diane Abbott who was the first to call for mandatory FGM checks on schoolgirls. Her words were not met with the same hostility.

What is most striking about the new agenda is that it shows Ukip no longer feel able to get by focussing on Brexit. Nuttall previously said Ukip must become ‘the guard dog on Brexit’ — and focus on making sure that Theresa May does not backslide on Britain’s exit from the EU. Ukip say the event was in the diary long before May called for an early election, but the fact that the party’s first big event since the election was announced focussed on the burqa suggests that the party is running out of things to say on Brexit.