'Perfectly legitimate view': Robert Jenrick defends Reform MP who 'wanted to wear tartan burqa' to Scottish event

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Sarah Pochin made the inflammatory comments on stage on Thursday at the party's Scottish manifesto launch held at a country club in Renfrewshire.

The MP for Runcorn and Helsby told the audience: "I really wanted to come on in a full tartan burqa but apparently I just wasn't allowed.

She went on: "You know what, one day, let's have one of these events that aren't livestreamed and we'll do all the naughty stuff."

"We'll do all the bits that have gone wrong and all the effing and jeffing when we do our pieces to camera and all the rest it – hilarious.”

Mr Jenrick - who defected to Reform in January - stood by the comments on Sunday with Lewis Goodall.

Lewis asked him: "What's funny about it?"

Mr Jenrick said Ms Pochin doesn't support women wearing the burqa which is a "legitimate view".

"Many, many people do not support women wearing the burqa, they find it reppressive, and they want to live in a country where men and women live equally."

He added: "I don't like creeping Islamist practices."

When asked by Lewis if it would be funny if a left-wing MP went on stage joking about wearing Jewish Orthodox dress, Mr Jenrick replied that it's a "perfectly legitimate view" to not like the burqa.

Ms Pochin has previously been criticised for calling for a ban on the burqa - a loose-fitting, full-body covering worn by some Muslim women that typically includes a veil covering the face, often with a mesh screen over the eyes to allow for vision.

The comments have been condemned by other parties, with a Labour spokesperson responding: “It took less than 30 seconds for Sarah Pochin to start making jokes about Muslims after her autocue broke.

"The same Sarah Pochin who said it drives her mad seeing too many black and Asian people on TV adverts.”

Last year, Ms Ponchin found herself in hot water after she was spotted holding a mug saying 'Two-Tier Keir' with an edited image of Starmer wearing a Hijab.

The image was shared with LBC's Lewis Goodall from the anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate.

Last year, Ms Ponchin used her first PMQs question to call on the prime minister to ban burqas “in the interest of public safety”.

Last June, Reform UK's chairman Zia Yusuf resigned after just 11 months due to a row over the 'burqa ban'.

He then re-joined the party 48 hours later admitting he was 'blindsided' by ban comments.

Earlier this month, Mr Yusuf proposed banning all face coverings in public, including the burqa.

The party’s new “shadow” home secretary said that legislation banning all face coverings in public would aid integration by ethnic communities and help the public feel safe.

Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries - France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria - while other countries have enacted partial bans.