Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Alex Burghart has said that he is “not completely opposed” to banning praying in public spaces.

He was responding to controversy over comments by Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy, who said a group of Muslims praying near a memorial to troops who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan was “a political act”.

Burghart told GB News: “Nick is very expert in this, and he chooses his words very carefully and very deliberately. He has studied this issue for a long time. He studied extremist Islamism very closely. He used to work in the Home Office.

“I completely agree with what he’s saying. I think it’s a very important debate to have, and I’m glad that he’s drawing attention to it.

“I think what Nick has said is that this is something that isn’t welcome, and generally I’m not in favour of resorting to banning things, but I do think that we have to be very careful about how our public spaces are used and whether we want to see public spaces used in this way.

“I’m not completely opposed the idea of a ban, but I just think there’s something that we need to think about carefully before we rush to conclusions today.”

On the new UK sanctions on Russia announced today, he said: “Obviously, we support anything that puts Putin under greater pressure and puts him in a position where he can’t carry on his illegal war.

“But what I’m very worried about is that the Prime Minister is going to the G7 making all of these promises, but he hasn’t presented his defence investment plan, which is almost a year late.

“The Secretary of State for Defence resigned last week, John Healey, as did the Armed Forces Minister, because they said the Prime Minister is unable and the Chancellor is unwilling to do what’s necessary to keep Britain safe.

“So, I think that his colleagues at the G7 will be looking at him thinking, ‘Does this man really put his money where his mouth is and is this the last time we’re going to see him?'”