The government is "chasing votes," says Stunell.

CAIRO — Senior British MPs and politicians have accused ministers of "chasing votes" and seeking political gains by the continuing focus on Muslim issues, warning that this would only play well into the hands of the far right and extremists.

"I'm worried there has been a series of pronouncements by government ministers, each one of which is individually unexceptional, but put them together it does look like a barrage of general criticism," Labour MP John Denham, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, told The Independent on Tuesday, October 17.

He warned that recent comments on the Muslim face veil and integration by ministers were exacerbating tensions.

"In a situation where there is, frankly, too little understanding between the Muslim community and the wider community and vice versa, it seems to be producing a defensiveness and lack of willingness to debate on the Muslim side, and in the majority a sort of generalized feeling that Muslims as a whole pose some sort of threat to our entire way of life ... that is not a debate," he told BBC Radio 4.

Cabinet minister and former foreign secretary Jack Straw sparked uproar earlier this month, saying Muslim women should not wear face veil, considering it a symbol of separation.

The timing of Straw's comments may be significant, raising his profile as debate rages within the Labour Party as to who will succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair and his deputy John Prescott.

Straw's anti-veil statements have drawn support from a host of senior officials, including Prime Minister Tony Blair who described the veil Tuesday as a "mark of separation" between the Muslim minority and the rest of British society.

Some officials like Race Minister Phil Woolas went far by demanding the dismissal of a school teacher for covering her face, suggesting she was "denying the right of children to a full education."

The Guardian also reported Monday, October 16, that a draft Education Ministry document asks lecturers and university staff across Britain to spy on Muslim students on suspicious involvement in "extremist" activities.

After Votes

"The only people this will benefit are the far-right BNP (British National Party)," Mahmood warned.

The Liberal Democrat communities spokesman, Andrew Stunell, also told the Guardian that the government was "chasing votes" by "demonizing a whole faith."

But Labour MPs and Lords warn that a growing Islamophobia bolsters the right-wingers and extremists, and make Muslims feel vulnerable and under siege.

"The only people this will benefit are the far-right BNP (British National Party)," Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, told The Independent.

"It will also encourage extremists from the Muslim community who will say: 'We told you so.'"

Local government elections will be held on 3 May 2007 in much of England and all of Scotland.

The Labour peer Baroness Uddin said the row over veils had caused "havoc" in the Muslim minority and created "a feeling of vulnerability and deionization of Muslim women".

"We have attacked those who would be our greatest allies in meeting the current challenges of terrorism and radicalization," she warned.

Muslim women, veiled and non-veiled, have taken to the streets recently to protest Straw's comments, saying that the veil is a personal choice.

Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer, said members of the Muslim community were considering leaving Britain because of the growing Islamophobia.

"People are asking: 'What is our future here, do you think we should be taking our money and going somewhere else because this country has so much Islamophobia?'"

A Guardian/ICM poll published on Tuesday, July 26, showed that nearly half a million Muslims contemplated leaving Britain after the London terrorist attacks, carried out by four Muslim bombers.

One in five of the polled said they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks.

Physical and verbal attacks against British Muslims in general, and veiled women in particular, have been on the rise since the anti-veil statements.