Jack Straw has extended his attack on the veils worn by some Muslim women after yesterday disclosing that he asked visitors in his Blackburn constituency to reveal their faces during meetings.

The Leader of the Commons said today that he thought the garment should be discarded altogether and highlighted the difference in opinions among Islamic scholars over the necessity of women concealing everything but their eyes when in public.

Mr Straw said the full veil made relations between communities difficult

The practice is a barrier to improving relations within the wider community, Mr Straw suggested.

"You cannot force people where they live, that's a matter of choice and economics, but you can be concerned about the implications of separateness and I am," he said.

He added that he understood that wearing the veil was a matter of choice for individuals but stressed that seeing "people's faces is fundamental to relationships."

Downing Street, however, sought to distance the Government from the controversy, noting that the former Foreign Secretary's stance was a personal view that does not represent official policy.

Opinion among Muslim leaders has been split over whether Mr Straw was right to raise the matter in the way he did.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques said he had "misunderstood" the issue and it was "deeply concerned" by his "very insensitive and unwise" statement.

"For such a seasoned and astute politician to make such a comment that has shocked his Muslim constituents seems ill-judged and misconceived," a spokesman said.

Mr Straw wrote in a column in his local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph, yesterday that wearing the full veil was bound to make "better, positive relations" between communities more difficult, as it could be seen "as a visible statement of separation and difference".

He had felt "uncomfortable" whenever a woman had worn one in his Blackburn constituency office.

Sheik Ibrahim Nogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain, hit out at that suggestion yesterday: "On the one hand he says this is a free country. On the other, he is denying that free choice to a woman who chooses to wear the veil.

"Does Mr Straw mean that people should give up certain cultural and religious customs and practices simply because a vast majority of the country do not share them? "That is calling for assimilation. That is saying that one culture or one way of life is superior to another."