Ukip asked 'enormous' number of Muslims about integration plan – but can't give a figure

Ukip has consulted an "enormous" number of liberal Muslims about its integration policies for the general election, including annual medical checks on girls at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM), according to the party's women's and equalities spokesperson Margot Parker.

But when challenged for an exact figure by IBTimes UK, Parker failed to provide one. "Do you want me to give you a one to 10? I'm not going to do that," she said.

"That's not trivialise the fact of why we are here today. We want to work together, we will invite naturally any comments from any organisations that which to engage with us. That's what we're about – integration."

Parker made the comments during a Ukip press conference in central London on Monday 24 April, where she was joined by deputy Ukip leader Peter Whittle, education spokesman David Kurten and Ukip leader Paul Nuttall.

"The biggest issues of our times are cultural ones," Whittle said, later warning that there were "monocultural islands" across Britain because of multi-culturalism.

Ukip's "integration agenda", which will go to a policy committee chaired by deputy chairman Suzanne Evans, includes banning face coverings in public places because they are a "deliberate barrier to integration" and post a security risk.

The party also wants the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to operate "under a presumption of prosecution" of any parent whose daughter has undergone FGM.

Elsewhere, Ukip call for a moratorium on new Islamic faith schools until "substantial progress" has been demonstrated in "integrating Muslims into mainstream British society".

The press conference ended with Nuttall locking himself in room away from political journalists, who wanted to quiz the Ukip leader about running in the general election.

Nuttall came second behind Labour's Gareth Snell in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election in February. The latest YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, of more than 1,500 people between 20 and 21 April, put Ukip on 5%. The party won 12.7% of the vote at the 2015 general election.