Meloni accused of election shift to right after ’shameful’ cap on foreign children in classrooms

Critics say decree also banning burqa in schools shows Italian PM running scared ahead of next year’s vote

Rights campaigners have accused the Italian government of ramping up divisive rhetoric in an attempt to court far-right voters ahead of next year’s general election after it passed a decree aimed at capping the number of newly arrived migrants in classrooms and banning the burqa and niqab in schools.

The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, said her government had approved what she called “commonsense measures that do not divide but genuinely help to integrate”.