Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has said immigrants from countries whose cultures do not align with British values should not be welcome in the UK.
Badenoch made the remarks during an interview on Sunday with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
The UK opposition leader has been outspoken about her concerns over the origin of immigrants and the cultures they bring with them.
Born to Nigerian Yoruba parents and having spent much of her childhood in Nigeria, Badenoch defended her stance when questioned about her background. She argued that large-scale immigration risks eroding British culture.
“Culture matters more,” she said.
“Certainly, in the UK, there is something that people from around the world are coming here to get. It is that system—you know, enlightenment values, equality under the law, freedom of speech, freedom of association, women having equal rights, the rule of law, our legal systems. So much of that is what draws people here.
“It is what has made us a successful country. But if you have a large number of people who don’t believe in those things, eventually your country will change.”
“Not All Cultures Are Equal”
Badenoch stirred controversy by stating that not all cultures are equal.
“Some people may not like to hear that, but cultures where there’s child marriage, where homosexuals are treated criminally and killed—those are not equal cultures. I will not accept that,” she said.
“Cultures where women are considered less than full citizens—those are not equal cultures. And when we have large numbers of people coming into a country, that does change things.”
Many of the cultural practices Badenoch criticised are, in fact, prevalent in Nigeria.
She also accused some immigrants of exploiting the UK’s tolerant legal system to gain citizenship fraudulently.
“We have people pretending, for instance, to be homosexual so they can claim asylum, and then they go on to get married and have children. They’re abusing the laws we have,” Badenoch said.
“We have people who go through false conversions. Parish priests get excited—‘Oh, these Muslims want to convert to Christianity.’ They convert just to claim asylum and say, ‘If I went back to my country, I’d be persecuted.’ This is exploitation of a system that was not designed for this sort of thing. We have to be honest about that.”
Badenoch added that under her leadership, she would not allow Nigerian immigrants to come and create a “mini-Nigeria” in the UK.
She emphasised that the only immigrants who would be welcome under her leadership are those who are net contributors, not those dependent on welfare or social housing.
