Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the UK Conservative Party, says the country should rethink it’s approach to immigration and not allow people from cultures that criminalise homosexuality.
The politician made the statement during an interview on CNN saying it was essential that people being accepted as immigrants to the United Kingdom come from places with a similar culture and values.
“I often say that numbers matter, how many people are coming into a country, you have to make sure that immigration is sustainable, but culture matters more.” Badenoch said during an interview with Fareed Zakaria.
“Certainly in the UK there is something that people from around thew world are coming there to get. It is that system of enlightenment values, equality under the law, freedom of speech, freedom of association, women having equal rights, the rule of law, our legal system – so much of that is what draws people from around the world. It is what has made us a successful country.
“But if you have large numbers of people who don’t believe in those things, eventually your country will change, and not all cultures are equal.” Badenoch said.
The political leader said cultures which allowed child marriage or where homosexuality is criminalised were of concern.
“Cultures where there’s child marriage, where homosexuals, gay people, are treated criminally, killed – those are not equal cultures.” Badenoch said, nominating culture’s that treat women as lesser citizens as another area of concern.
Badenoch said her concerns were specially about culture and not religion, before claiming that many people who are granted asylum in the United Kingdom on the basis that they are gay may be faking their claims about sexuality.
“We are allowing our tolerance to be exploited.” Badenoch said. “We have people pretending, for instance, to be homosexual so that they can claim asylum, and then they go on to get married and have children. They are abusing the laws that we have.”
The Conservative leader said she also believed many immigrants also claim to be Christians when then claims are not genuine.
Badenoch took over as the leader of the Conservative party after their 2024 election loss under Rishi Sunak. She was previously the Minister for Women and Equality, and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
Badenoch was born in the United Kingdom was born in the United Kingdom when her mother travelled from Nigeria for medical treatment. She grew up in Nigeria and the United States and returned to Britain as a teenager when the political conditions in Nigeria deteriorated.
Badenoch has previously stated that her family were unaware that she had British citizenship due to her birth with the country. Automatic citizenship for people born in the UK ended in 1981, a year after the politician’s birth.
Nigeria, where Badenoch grew up, is one of the countries that criminalises homosexuality, and there are no legal protections for LGBTIQA+ people. In northern Nigeria where many jurisdictions follow Sharia law those convicted of homosexual offences are put to death by stoning. Elsewhere sexual activity can lead to long terms of imprisonment. Studies have shown that Nigeria has one of the highest levels of opposition to homosexuality.
During the interview Badenoch said while it’s hard to become a Nigerian citizen, Nigerians becoming British citizens is far too easy. She claimed that her children were unable to be Nigerian citizens because she is a woman. Her claim has been disputed.
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents. I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman.” Badenoch said.
High ranking officials in the Nigerian government have accused Badenoch of deliberately misrepresenting the country’s laws.
The politician also skipped over the fact that many of the countries around the world that criminalise homosexuality are former British colonies or have legal systems originating in the United Kingdom.
Nigeria was colonised by Britain in the nineteenth century, and adopted adopted legal systems and administrative structures from the United Kingdom. It became an independent country in 1960.
In 2018 British Prime Minister Theresa May apologised for the colonial laws against homosexuality that Britain had instated around the globe. At the time 36 of the 53 Commonwealth Nations still had laws that outlawed homosexuality, and most of them were introduced during British colonisation.
