Cameron: "Sharia law would undermine society"

Last Modified: 26 Feb 2008
Source: ITN

Tory leader David Cameron has said that Sharia law for Muslims in Britain would undermine society.

He strongly denied the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' claim that adopting some elements of Sharia law was unavoidable.

He said that this would lead to a "legal apartheid".

Mr Cameron also criticised the idea of what he called a "state multiculturalism", encouraging different communities to lead separate lives.

Speaking at a debate organised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, he said: "I don't believe that by introducing Sharia law, we will make Muslims somehow feel more British - more content with life here and more happy to work for a common good.

"In my view the opposite is the case: I think it would be to head in the wrong direction.

"The reality is that the introduction of Sharia law for Muslims is actually the logical endpoint of the now discredited doctrine of state multiculturalism instituting, quite literally, a legal apartheid to entrench what is the cultural apartheid in too many parts of our country."

He added: "This wouldn't strengthen society - it would undermine it.

"It would alienate other communities who would resent this preferential treatment.

"It would provide succour to the separatists who want to isolate and divide communities from the mainstream.

"And it would - crucially - weaken, destabilise and demoralise those Muslims who embrace liberal values and desperately want to integrate fully in British society.

"And here lies the rub - here lies the essential failure of state multiculturalism and the problem with what the Archbishop was suggesting.

"For too long we've caved into more extreme elements by hiding under the cloak of cultural sensitivity.

"For too long we've given in to the loudest voices from each community without listening to what the majority want.

"And for too long, we've come to ignore differences - even if they fly in the face of human rights, notions of equality and child protection - with a hapless shrug of the shoulders saying 'it's their culture isn't it? Let them do what they want'."

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