London, England - Prime Minister Tony Blair has waded into the row about whether Muslim women should wear veils, saying they were a "mark of separation" but it would be a step too far to condemn them outright.
At his monthly press conference on Tuesday, Blair said Britain needed a wider debate on the integration of Muslims, adding people wanted to see a balance between integration and multiculturalism.
"It is a mark of separation and that's why it makes other people from outside the community feel uncomfortable," he said.
"No-one wants to say that people don't have the right to do it. That's to take it too far."
He added the veil issue touched a wider concern of the British people.
"People want to know the Muslim community in particular, but actually all the minority communities, have got the balance right between integration and multiculturalism," he said.
"We need to conduct this debate in a sensitive way, but it needs to be conducted."
His comments came after former foreign secretary Jack Straw, who is still a cabinet minister, revealed two weeks ago that he asks Muslim women who come to his constituency surgery to remove their veils.
He later added that he would prefer if women did not wear veils at all.
Last week, a 24-year-old teaching assistant, Aishah Azmi, was suspended from a junior school in Yorkshire, northern England, after refusing to remove her veil.
Blair has previously been reticent over the issue, but Tuesday said he supported the local authority's handling of the case.
"I can see the reasons why they came to the decision that they did," he said.