Ukip's leader has said a string of policies aimed almost entirely at Muslims, including a ban on the burka in public, are not designed to sow division.

Paul Nuttall said the plans - which also include a moratorium on the creation of new Islamic faith schools, banning sharia law, and a call to prosecute the parents of girls who are subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) - will "promote integration".

He said he believed Ukip was "10 years ahead of our time" on these issues, predicting the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats will be "where we are today at some point in the 2020s".

Opening the launch of Ukip's integration policy in Westminster, Mr Nuttall said: "Today's message will be a message of positivity, it will not be about negativity.

"What we will say today is not designed to sow the seeds of division.

"It is about promoting integration in British society."

Ukip was accused of descending into "full throttled Islamophobia" in a "desperate" effort to stay relevant after helping achieve Brexit.

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas said: "Ukip's 'integration agenda' is an assault on multiculturalism and an attack on Muslims. It's full throttled Islamaphobia.

"Now that the referendum has passed Nuttall's party is desperately scrabbling around for relevance and seem to have settled upon attacks on Muslims and fringe far-right politics as their new home.

"In this election the Green Party will be standing up to the politics of hate spewing from Ukip and putting forward a vision for a multicultural, welcoming Britain which we can all be proud of."

Among the policies outlined by Ukip was a call for girls "at risk" of FGM to have medical examinations every year, and when they return from travelling abroad.

Women and equalities spokeswoman Margot Parker said medical practitioners should be required to report cases of FGM.

A failure to report FGM would also be a criminal offence for any adult who knows it has taken place.

"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," Ms Parker said.

"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."

Ms Parker also said victims of "grooming gangs" who are from a different ethnic or religious background to the perpetrators should be treated as having suffered a hate crime.

Meanwhile, education spokesman David Kurten highlighted the Trojan Horse scandal, which centred on an alleged move by a small group of hardline Muslims to seize control of a small number of schools in Birmingham.

He said there should now be a moratorium on Islamic faith schools "until there is far better integration of the entire Muslim community".

Mr Kurten also called for an immediate suspension of schools where there is evidence of extremist ideology being spread, FGM promoted, or with "extreme" uniform requirements such as "head coverings or face veils for girls", or unequal access to activities for boys and girls.

Deputy leader Peter Whittle outlined plans to make it harder to obtain a postal vote in elections, complaining of voter fraud "amongst some minority communities".

He highlighted the case of Tower Hamlets in east London, where former mayor Lutfur Rahman was removed from office after being found guilty of electoral fraud by an Election Court, and said postal votes should only be granted under a higher threshold of demonstrable need.

Mr Whittle insisted Ukip believes a multi-ethnic society can be harmonious and successful "if it is bound together by an overarching attachment to Britain and British identity" and denied seeking the votes of those who have previously backed the far-right British National Party.