Scottish Tory councillor rebuked for posting tweets supporting burqa ban

Categories: Latest News
Friday March 11 2016
Scottish newspapers, The Herald and Daily Record report on an apology issued by South Ayrshire’s Depute Provost and Conservative party councillor, Mary Kilpatrick, after she retweeted a number of messages with the hashtag “BanTheBurka”.
Ms Kilpatrick, a member of South Ayrshire Council for 17 years, retweeted several messages between December 2015 and February 2016 from the account, Banning the Burqa, linking to a petition calling for a ban on the garb.
Ms Kilpatrick’s tweets included images of Muslim women in burqa one of which was posted with the message “Anyone who looks at this and doesn’t view is as oppressive doesn’t belong in the 21st century” and another with the message, “I don’t have anything against the Headscarf. It is not a security risk. The Burka speaks for itself. #BanTheBurka.”
She also posted a message stating “Absolutely ridiculous that exams are being pushed back due to Ramadan. Children should not be fasting in the first place!”
A Scottish Conservative party spokesperson said: “Mary apologises for any upset
her retweets have caused. In addition, we have issued reminders to all elected representatives and candidates to act responsibly when using social media.”
Whether the rebuke is sufficient to deal with the regard shown by an electe
d official for the religious practices of constituents has been voiced by the SNP with MSP, Chic Brodie stating: “In the role she has
as depute provost she cannot go around making remarks like this. They are not in sympathy with society and she should not be holding the position she holds if that’s how she feels.”
Calls for a ban on the burqa have been back on the agenda with the Daily Express returning to its pet topic with a number of articles on the subject this week. The
paper today announces that “The battle to ban the Burka in Britain was handed a huge boost today after a whopping 97 per cent of Express.co.uk readers urged the Government to take action.”
The paper has no less than three stories featuring the burqa on its website homepage today.