A row over a British government minister's remarks that it would be better for social integration if Muslim women did not veil their faces refused to die down on Sunday.

The comments last week by Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw provoked Muslim ire, political tremors and public commentaries that he had voiced a feeling silently held by many people.

The row erupted after Straw, whose northern English constituency has a large Muslim population, revealed that he asked visitors to his office to remove their veils, saying they acted as "a visible statement of separation and difference".

But he defended Muslims' right to wear headscarves, hijabs, unlike the French government which banned them from state schools, provoking protests across the Islamic world.

One leading Muslim said his comments were responsible for an attack on a Muslim woman in the northern city of Liverpool in which her veil was ripped off and racial abuse was shouted.

Phil Woolas, minister for race and equality, came out in support of Straw.

"Muslim women who wear a veil have every right to do so," he wrote in the Sunday Mirror newspaper. "But they must realise that other people who don't understand the culture can find it frightening and intimidating."

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said he understood why Straw had aired his concerns but that he risked his argument being hijacked by bigots and ending up doing more harm than good.

"I think this debate does open it up, thank goodness Jack has done that," he told BBC television. "But I fear sometimes people might use it in a more prejudiced way and I am concerned it might damage relations rather than improve them."

Opponents accused Straw, demoted from foreign minister earlier this year, of opening a thinly-disguised bid to become deputy prime minister when Prescott stands down sometime within the next year.

Muslim News accused him in an editorial of demonising Islam and said he had made sure that Muslim women would "refuse to participate in the democratic process."

"The blatant absurdity of that reaction is unfortunately typical of a section of the Muslim community which does its best to suppress any form of debate," the Sunday Telegraph newspaper responded in an editorial.

"Indeed we should all be grateful that Mr Straw had the courage to raise the issue of the impact the face covering veil can have on community cohesion. Courage of that kind has been in short supply," it added.

In many British towns, communities are divided with little or no contact between ethnic groups. Commentators fear this is fuelling tension and extremism.

Two weeks ago Home Secretary (Interior Minister) John Reid, a possible successor to Prime Minister Tony Blair who is to quit the job within a year, vowed to prevent Muslim extremists setting up "no-go" ghettos in British cities.