London, England - THE simmering row over religious relations in Britain was threatening to boil over today after controversial interventions by politicians from both main parties.
The Government's race minister demanded the sacking of a Muslim teaching assistant who refuses to remove her veil at work, accusing her of "denying the right of children to a full education".
Phil Woolas said Aishah Azmi's stand meant she could not "do her job", and insisted barring men from working with her would amount to "sexual discrimination".
Meanwhile, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis launched a stinging attack on Muslim leaders for risking "voluntary apartheid" in Britain, and expecting special protection from criticism.
In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Davis warned of "closed societies" being created in the UK, and said religious divides threatened to "corrode" fundamental values such as freedom of speech.
The outspoken comments came at the end of a week in which the furore over race relations has grown steadily, after Jack Straw admitted he asked female Muslim constituents to lift their veils during private discussions.
Some Muslim groups have condemned the Leader of the Commons for "selectively discriminating" on the basis of religion.
But Mr Davis - in an apparent hardening of the Conservatives' attitude to radical Islam - expressed sympathy with Mr Straw's position, and suggested the problem went deeper, affecting the "very unity of our nation".
He wrote today: "What Jack touched on was the fundamental issue of whether, in Britain, we are developing a divided society.
"Whether we are creating a series of closed societies within our open society. Whether we are inadvertently encouraging a kind of voluntary apartheid."
Mr Davis added: "Are we going to allow the splintering of loyalties, the division of communities, that will corrode the foundations of our society?
"It will take compromises, but it will also take a determined signal about what we as a nation will and will not accept."
Mr Davis said there was a "growing feeling that the Muslim community is excessively sensitive to criticism, unwilling to engage in substantive debate".
The increasing polarisation of the argument over integration has been illustrated by two high-profile cases.
Headfield Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, confirmed on Friday that it had suspended 24-year-old Ms Azmi, who has taken her case to an employment tribunal.
The school is understood to have deemed face-to-face contact was essential in her role as a bilingual support worker. It has stressed that the action had "nothing to do" with religion.
Ms Azmi insisted yesterday that she had been willing to remove the garment in class as long as there were no adult males present.
But Mr Woolas told the Sunday Mirror: "She should be sacked. She has put herself in a position where she can't do her job.
"She cannot teach a classroom of children wearing a veil. You cannot have a teacher who wears a veil simply because there are men in the room.
"She is denying the right of children to a full education by insisting that she wears the veil."
The Communities and Local Government minister, whose brief includes race relations, added: "If she is saying that she won't work with men, she is taking away the right of men to work in schools.
"That's sexual discrimination. No headteacher could agree to that."
Parallels have been drawn between Ms Azmi's case and that of British Airways check-in worker Nadia Eweida, who claims she was effectively "forced" to take unpaid leave after refusing to remove or conceal a small crucifix necklace.
The airline says that items such as turbans, hijabs and bangles can be openly worn "as it is not practical for staff to conceal them beneath their uniforms".
Christian groups have branded British Airways' ruling "extremely offensive", and Miss Eweida, 55, now plans to sue her employer for religious discrimination.
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett urges fearless discussion of integration issues in an interview with today's Sunday Telegraph.
He said: "We should not go out of our way to avoid saying things that we want to say because we might actually cause a rumpus. I have always said what I think. I think that part of being in our society is that we all have to live with that."
Education Secretary Alan Johnson is also expected to step into the religious debate this week by putting forward plans to force new faith schools to allocate a quarter of places to non-believers.
A letter from Mr Johnson to Cabinet colleagues, leaked to the Sunday Times, sets out plans to add measures to the Government's Education and Inspection Bill.
The Church of England has already announced it will set aside a quarter of places at its new schools, but a bid to make Catholic, Jewish and Muslim institutions do the same is likely to meet resistance.