The 46-year-old businesswoman and Apprentice winner did not hold back as she spoke about the recent ruling in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that allows employers to ban workers from wearing headscarves and other visible religious symbols.
Their verbal clash came to a head when Piers, 51, asked Saira: “How would you feel if I said to you, ‘Actually, Saira before we go on air, would you mind – I don’t like your jacket. I just don’t like it’?”
She hit back: “Okay Piers, this isn’t about you saying it to me. This is about a company, who have got policies saying it.”
But Piers Morgan gave as good as he got and tried another angle: “Okay, ITV says they don’t like you wearing a jacket, they want you to wear a suit.” to which Saira responded: “Also, you can’t just single out [a person].”
Her words prompted him to asked how she felt if she had to change what she was wearing, however Saira said: “No, it’s not about feeling, it’s about a ruling and you cannot single out a person for wearing a religious outfit just because of their religion.”
Piers tried to chip in but Saira was having none of it and the pair tried to speak over one another as they competed to get a word in edgeways.
In the end Piers was heard exclaiming: “No, you hold on! It’s partly religion, which we’ve been discussing, it’s more than that. It’s a spiritual thing.”
As the Loose Women panelist went to interrupt him again, Piers barked: “It’s not your show, Saira! Would you mind letting me finish my sentence?”
Saira was saying that companies implementing this policy would simply discourage people potentially applying to them.
The heated scenes came as the European Union’s highest court made the judgement, which was hailed by politicians on the right.
Guardian journalist Hanna Yusef was also on Good Morning Britain and said that the ban would lead to muslim women leaving the workplace and that it “legitimises intolerant views and lets employers discriminate”.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am.
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