Leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has voiced strong criticism of Britain’s immigration policies, arguing that they are overly permissive compared to the stricter standards upheld in countries like Nigeria.
Speaking on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday, Badenoch said many migrants exploit the UK’s immigration system in ways they would not dare to attempt in their countries of origin.
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“There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries,” she said.
When pressed by Zakaria on whether she would tolerate immigrants recreating what he described as a “mini-Nigeria” in the UK under the guise of cultural preservation, Badenoch rejected the idea outright.
“That is not right. Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept,” she responded sharply.
To underscore her point, Badenoch pointed to her personal experience with Nigeria’s citizenship law. Despite holding Nigerian citizenship herself, she noted that she is unable to pass it on to her children due to her gender.
“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,” she said.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
Badenoch, a mother of three with her husband Hamish Badenoch, added that should she become Prime Minister, she would pursue policies that make it significantly more difficult to obtain British citizenship.
Born in 1980 in London to Nigerian parents of Yoruba descent, Badenoch spent much of her early childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at the age of 16.
Her political career gained momentum with ministerial appointments under Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak between 2022 and 2024.
Now at the helm of the Conservative Party, Badenoch’s views on immigration, integration, and national identity continue to spark debates across the UK’s political spectrum.
