LONDON (Reuters) — The threat from radical Islam, rammed home by last year’s London bombings, has led Britain into a profound rethink of its traditionally tolerant attitude to ethnic minorities.Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government has called for a debate on whether Britain’s longstanding policy of avoiding imposing a single British identity, and promoting a multicultural society where different communities live side by side, has led to segregation of ethnic minorities.

Government officials fear such isolation has made it easier for radical ideas to take hold, influencing four British Islamists to blow up 52 people on London transport last year.

A growing conviction the government has to tackle segregation has led ministers onto ground that a few years ago would have been considered too delicate to tread upon.

Blair stepped into a debate about some Muslim women’s use of the full veil this week, calling it a “mark of separation”.

Ministers now want new religious schools to offer up to a quarter of their places to children of different faiths and stress the need for immigrants to learn English and understand British culture and values. But experts say the focus on Islam could backfire if Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims feel they are under attack. “This litany of stories about Muslims has created a feeling that all Muslims are the same ... somehow they are all associated with terrorism, which is quite wrong,” Ted Cantle, who led a review of race riots in northern English cities five years ago, told Reuters.

“If they (British Muslims) don’t feel valued ... then inevitably they are going to look for a different and unfortunately more radical ideology,” said Cantle, a professor at Coventry University’s Institute of Community Cohesion, which deals with community relations.

The July 7 bombings prompted much soul-searching over what had led four young Britons to become suicide bombers.

A Muslim task force set up in the wake of the attacks came up with 64 recommendations for combatting extremism, but critics complained little progress was made on community relations as the government focused on passing tougher security laws. Wyn Grant, politics professor at Warwick University, said it was not just the bombings that had sparked the current debate.

“There is a sense that separateness in the Muslim communities is increasing. You get people wearing the veil and the burqa (cloak) and so on. Twenty or thirty years ago that wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

Many European countries are wrestling with how to integrate ethnic minorities. About 9,000 vehicles were set on fire last year in three weeks of rioting in France by disaffected youths of Arab and African origin as well as some white youngsters.

France had sought to assimilate migrants into its culture, whereas Britain had “not only accepted but actually in many cases revelled in having people from different cultures,” Cantle said, noting that 300 languages are spoken in London schools.

With five million citizens from different backgrounds, Britain cannot move away from being a multicultural nation, he said. “What we’ve got to do is find ways of making multiculturalism work differently and work better,” he said.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said multiculturalism should not be a scapegoat.

He said the debate had focused disproportionately on Muslims, leaving some in the community feeling besieged. “If a robust democracy like Britain cannot cope with a few thousand veiled women ... then there’s a question on this democracy.”

The risk of the debate leading to racist outbreaks was shown this month when a Muslim woman had her veil torn from her as she stood at a bus stop in Liverpool, a local newspaper reported.

Some analysts see a political motive behind the sudden focus on Islam. Blair has said he will leave office within a year and political jockeying has begun in the ruling Labour Party to succeed both Blair and his deputy John Prescott.

The veil issue was first raised by former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, a possible candidate for the deputy’s job.

Political analysts say Labour politicians could be taking a firm position on minorities to win support in the party and curry favour with finance minister Gordon Brown, Blair’s likely successor, who has made promoting “Britishness” a priority.

The Labour Party may also want to sound tough on immigration to shore up its flanks against the far-right British National Party (BNP), which has a hardline anti-immigration policy. The BNP shocked the government by taking council seats from Labour in east London in last May’s election.