BORIS Johnson has branded Sharia Law in the UK as “absolutely unacceptable”, as he slammed Church of England clerics who say the Islamic legal code should be incorporated into British law.
Boris Johnson has said Sharia law in the UK would be ‘absolutely unacceptable’ GETTY
Boris Johnson has said Sharia law in the UK would be ‘absolutely unacceptable’
Speaking on LBC radio this morning, the London Mayor said he was opposed to “a Sharia system running in parallel with UK justice.”
His remarks come a day after Home Secretary Theresa May called for an investigation into the application of Sharia law in England and Wales if Conservatives win the General Election.
But the mayor said he took “grave exception” to Church of England clerics who suggest the principles of Sharia could be introduced into the legal system.
Former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams sparked controversy in 2008 when he suggested it was “inevitable” that elements of Sharia would be incorporated in British law.
Mr Johnson also called for a great separation between the Government and the Church of England, declaring the presence of 26 Bishops in the House of Lords as “clerical fossils.”
He said: “That is unacceptable to me. Everybody must be equal under the law, and everybody must obey the same law. That is absolutely cast-iron.
The point is that the idea of a parallel system of law, a parallel judicature, people making the laws holding to a different system, is absolutely unacceptable, it’s alien to our traditions
Boris Johnson
“I take grave exception to some of the support I see sometimes – and from clerics in the Church of England who’ve come out in favour of this, I’ve noticed, and said we should be a little bit indulgent of this.
“It’s an interesting fact that we have some clerical fossils still in our legislature. Don’t forget we have bishops sitting by right in our upper house.
“The separation of church and state is not perhaps as thorough-going in this country as you might like to think.
“The point is that the idea of a parallel system of law, a parallel judicature, people making the laws holding to a different system, is absolutely unacceptable, it’s alien to our traditions.
“I won’t have it in London and I’m worried sometimes by the faint bat-squeaks of support that I hear for that idea even from clerics in the Church of England.”
Asked if the Beth Din would “have to go”, Mr Johnson replied: “Yes, absolutely. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”
He said he accepted that Jewish couples could go to a Beth Din to seek sanction for their divorce, but added: “It cannot substitute for UK civil proceedings.
“They cannot replace the civil proceedings. If they want to have some ceremonial proceeding according to religious ritual or whatever, that is fine. But the actual implementation of the law has got to be done in British courts according to British law, agreed by Parliament.
“That is where the law emanates from. The law emanates in the end from people voting for MPs who enact the statutes which we all obey.
“That gives this country a vital equality.”