Schoolgirls at risk of female genital mutilation would be given mandatory medical examinations to tackle the barbaric practice, under UKIP proposals.

The children would be subjected to the routine checks at their schools every year as part of the party's proposals to prosecute parents who allow their girls to be subjected to FGM.

They would also have to be checked after returning from foreign holidays, under measures unveiled as part of UKIP's "Integration Agenda".

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The party also says the Crown Prosecution Service should work to a "presumption of prosecution" of any parent whose daughter has suffered FGM. The failure to report an incident of FGM would also be made a criminal offence.


UKIP's women and equality spokesman Margot Parker disclosed the details of the initiative in a speech to supporters as part of the party's integration policy.

Mandatory checks are already law in France, which has had far greater success prosecuting FGM cases. Although it has been illegal in the UK since 1987, there have been no successful prosecutions.

Ms Parker said: "All these measures to combat this despicable crime are already law in France, a country that has a far, far better record than us on FGM.

"Not only have they proven effective both in protecting girls in France from FGM, they also help provide essential evidence to mount prosecutions where FGM has taken place. It is time the United Kingdom caught up."

The campaign group, the Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development, estimates 60,000 girls under 15 are at risk of FGM in the UK.

It says 137,000 girls and women are living with the consequences of being operated on.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, called for mandatory FGM checks in 2014 to end the "shameful" failure in the UK to bring prosecutions.

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Former Liberal Democrat home office minister Lynne Featherstone said the approach was "horrifically heavy-handed".

She said: "Research shows that school teachers are still too scared to talk about FGM, honour-based violence and forced marriage, let alone report it.

"This is where we should concentrate our efforts not forcing girls to undergo invasive medical examinations.

"UKIP seem to try and out-do Le Pen with right-wing policies that are insensitive and frankly outrageous."

UKIP also wants to see a burka ban, outlawing face coverings that are a "barrier to integration and, in many contexts, a security risk too".

It is also proposing no new Islamic faith schools should be set up until "substantial progress has been demonstrated in integrating Muslims into mainstream British society".

It would also close schools where Islamist ideology was being "taught or imposed" on children.

In response to child sex abuse scandals such as Rotherham, the party also said gangs who have groomed victims of a different religion or race should face longer jail sentences.

UKIP leader Paul Nuttall denied the "Integration Agenda" was an attack on Muslims and said he thought the party was "10 years ahead of our time".

He said the other parties would be "where we are today at some point in the 2020s".