GETTY A total ban on Muslim state schools has been called for by wanna-be UKIP leader Lisa Duffy

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Lisa Duffy, a councillor in Cambridgeshire, has laid out a “common sense” policy platform in an exclusive interview with the Daily Express as party bosses prepare to announce the final leadership candidates list today. The former Ukip director is expected to up against North West MEP Steven Woolfe, the early frontrunner; MEPs Bill Etheridge, Diane James and Jonathan Arnott; National Executive Committee member Liz Jones and former parliamentary candidate Phillip Broughton.

Speaking to the Daily Express, Cllr Duffy has identified tackling radical Islam, being tough on law and order and ending foreign abuse of the NHS as her top policy priorities. Promising “a grassroots revolution” which will see her “march Ukip into Westminster”, Ms Duffy has vowed to keep the party “talking about the difficult issues” in society. She will shortly announce a detailed policy on “a positive vision for modernising British Islam” but as a preview said that Islamic faith schools should be shut down to tackle radicalisation. She said: “I will be calling for the Government to close British Islamic faith schools. “That doesn’t mean I am picking on British Islam, but if you think about what our security services are looking at 2,000 individuals that have come from those faith schools. When does indoctrination start?”

She went on: “If the same thing was coming from Christian schools or Jewish schools we would take the same approach but we have to understand radicalisation is coming from somewhere.” She also said she was worried about the way Muslim women are treated and said that their freedoms need to be protected. She said: “I have worked with a lot of young Muslim females who are born and bred in our Western society but are not having the same rights as a British female should have.

GETTY As a preview, Duffy said Islamic faith schools should be shut down to tackle radicalisation

“I do a lot of protection for them. They wanted to go out and it was like ‘Lisa say I am at work if my father phones today but this is where I will be so you know and know I am safe and will let you know when I am back’. “It shouldn’t be like that. They should have the same rights as my 16 year old daughter if she wants to go out and down to the cinema with her boyfriend. That is the freedom with have in our country and I want the same situation for the British female Muslims we have in our communities.” She added: “It is not attacking the religion it is about equality for young females. I am not far right, I am very much common sense and centre right.” On law and order she insisted that a tougher approach needs to be taken with criminals.

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She said: “I want sentences mean full sentences and I don’t always think short sentences are the answer. I don’t think we should give them time off for good behaviour I think it should be time added on for bad behaviour. “I you’re given five years then you should serve five years. Prisons are about reform but they are also about keeping criminals off the streets.” She also said more should be done to deport foreign criminals and end foreign use of the NHS. She said: “The NHS is the National Health Service it is not the World Health Service.” Cllr Duffy also wants to use her experience in retail and as the party’s former director to make it a far more effective election machine.

GETTY Lisa Duffy will be competing against North West MEP Steven Woolfe for UKIP leader title

In business she helped turn around an “Achilles heel” TK Maxx store in Manchester to being the second best in the country. As a Ukip organiser she built the youth movement up from “three people around a table to almost 1,000 members”, set up a “flying squad” of 300 volunteers for by-elections and created the assessment centres for candidates. She boasts that she has spotted much of the party’s talent including leadership rival Diane James.

GETTY Duffy is also expected to up against MEP Bill Etheridge

On the future strategy, she said: “We need to embed candidates. We mustn’t just turn up six weeks before an election we turn up tomorrow. We start building and delivering on behalf of your community.” She was also critical of the party’s 2015 strategy. She said: “We have to think about targeting. At the last election we were spread very thinly, we didn’t give people opportunities and I think we didn’t put resources where I would have necessarily put them myself with the experience that I have had. “So I would have targeted a lot more of the Labour seats and areas where we had big councillor bases.”

GETTY Ending foreign abuse of the NHS would be one of Duffy's top policy priorities

Cllr Duffy also wants to hand Mr Farage the ambassadorial role of taking Brexit to other EU countries and helping their independence movements. She said: “I think Nigel is very clear about what he wants. He wants his life back so let’s allow him to have his life back. “But Nigel also wants to travel around Europe to other EU countries which also want to leave the EU and who is better to go out there and give them advice than him?” As for the next leader she said he or she needs to be their own person.

GETTY Cllr Duffy wants to hand Mr Farage the ambassadorial role of taking Brexit to other EU countries