Reform's Zia Yusuf: ‘Ban the burka. It’s un-British’
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 705 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Labour has promised a tougher approach to migration, but it seems too little, too late.
On Friday, Shabana Mahmood has unveiled new restrictions on visas and asylum rules as pressure grows to tackle record numbers of migrants in taxpayer-funded accommodation. Yet proposals to offer failed applicants up to £40,000 to leave the UK have triggered a backlash within Labour, with figures such as Angela Rayner questioning the approach.
Rachel Johnson and Tim are joined by Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, to discuss whether the Government has lost control its immigration system, and what a more robust alternative might look like if his party gets into power.
He also argues for a ban on face coverings in public, saying it would improve security and strengthen social cohesion in a “western liberal democracy”.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.1 | Why Labour's immigration plans don't go nearly far enough. |
| 0:13.6 | Racist DEI targets and his plan to ban the un-British burker. |
| 0:19.0 | We're joined by Reforms Home Affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf, |
| 0:22.3 | who also says PMQs is pointless |
| 0:24.5 | if Stama won't answer questions after reforms walk out this week. |
| 0:29.6 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Tim Stanley. |
| 0:31.6 | And me, Rachel Johnson. |
| 0:45.8 | Thank you. Zia Yusuf Reforms Home Affairs spokesman. |
| 0:46.9 | Welcome to the Daily Tea. |
| 0:50.0 | We want to obviously get into immigration with you because this is the week in which Shabana Mahmood's new measures on migration take into effect. |
| 0:55.9 | And I just want to mention a few of them, because some of this stuff is pretty dramatic and tough. |
| 1:01.0 | It includes an emergency break on visas from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, |
| 1:06.1 | intended to counter a surge in asylum claims from the four nations, |
| 1:09.4 | with an increase of 470% of |
| 1:12.1 | those claims being recorded between 2021 and 2025, also a change in the familial status needed |
| 1:18.1 | for asylum claims so that claims will be reduced from you can bring in a relative to you |
| 1:23.6 | can bring in a close relative. Zia, this is pretty strong stuff, especially from a Labour Home Secretary. |
| 1:31.5 | Does this mean that Labour is doing what you want? |
| 1:34.9 | And therefore, why should people vote for you? |
| 1:37.3 | Well, what Shabana Mahmood and Labour are doing is being, you know, a supersoaker to a forest fire. |
| 1:43.7 | That's what they're doing. |
... |
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