PETER HAIN, the minister for Europe, has warned that Muslim immigration to Britain and the backlash against it poses a greater danger than tensions arising from racial differences.

In remarks that are likely to spark a new row over immigration, Hain criticised sections of the Muslim community for being "very isolationist" and warned that their behaviour allowed extremists to exploit cultural divisions.

In an interview with The Sunday Times he said he was concerned by the rapid growth in asylum seekers arriving in Britain, many from Islamic countries, and the refusal of some to adopt British culture. He said the problem, unless addressed, was "in the end going to create real difficulties".

Hain, a campaigner against racism, said other European countries were often to blame for allowing asylum seekers to pass through on their way to Britain and that only a minority were genuine refugees. Speaking in the aftermath of the murder of Pim Fortuyn, the populist Dutch politician who defended his anti-immigration policies by claiming Muslims were regressive and illiberal, Hain said problems arising from religious differences were more dangerous than problems of racial differences.

"Islam is now a much bigger factor than racial tension and we are going to need to resolve that together, not by targeting Muslims as Fortuyn was doing, but sending a clear message that British Muslims  are welcome here and enrich our culture, but also that they must be part of our culture," said Hain.

"Muslim immigrants can be very isolationist in their own behaviour and their own customs. That in the end is going to create real difficulties and is likely to be ripe for exploitation by extremists, whether it is followers of Bin Laden on one hand or racists on the other. It takes two to integrate, and we need to work with the Muslim community."

Hain emphasised that his comments were not a criticism of Muslims in general. Nevertheless they met a sharp response this weekend. Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim parliament in Britain, said the minister's remarks were divisive and called on him to withdraw them: "It is very sad. As a political activist, Peter Hain should know better. It shows how cut-off Labour ministers have become from the reality of life in Britain."

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Britain's first Muslim peer, said he was sorry Hain had used the words he did. "Islam has now almost become interchangeable with terrorism, which has no [basis in] reality. It does not help to make Islam out to be an isolationist religion."

Fortuyn's criticism of Muslim immigration tapped into fears that large numbers of asylum seekers were creating ethnic ghettoes and failing to integrate with host cultures.

The row came as Tony Blair's plans to push ahead with an early decision on the euro were postponed by the rise of the right in Europe.

Hain, a founder member of the Anti-Nazi League in Britain, said the rise of right-wing political parties across Europe had sounded an alarm that the European Union should respond to by tightening immigration controls and repatriating asylum seekers who did not have a well-founded fear of persecution.

Hain will discuss the idea of a standardised asylum policy with his European counterparts in Brussels tomorrow. He is lobbying for stricter immigration curbs to deter abuses.

"We must improve controls at borders in Italy, Spain and Greece, otherwise they [asylum seekers] just migrate to the Sangatte camp the other side of the Channel," he said.

"Instead of just letting them go on to their next destination they [continental states] should have common procedures [so] that people are interviewed [and] if their applications are rejected, they are returned to where they came from."

Some EU countries were seen as a "soft touch", Hain said: "It is clear that large sections should not have arrived here at all."