LEADING Cabinet ministers have spoken out to disagree with Jack Straw's comments over Muslim women wearing veils.

The latest high profile figures to come out in opposition to Mr Straw are his cabinet colleagues John Prescott and Ruth Kelly.

But the pair praised Mr Straw for opening up a debate on the issue.

House of Commons leader Jack Straw, in his weekly column for the Lancashire Telegraph last week, sparked the discussion by saying he asked Muslim women to take off their veils at his constituency surgery in Blackburn.

He said that he believed covering faces could make community relations more difficult.

But Mr Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, said he would not ask a Muslim woman to remove her veil.

He added: "If a woman wants to wear a veil, why shouldn't she? It's her choice.

"If somebody comes into my constituency wearing a turban or very dark glasses I'm not going to ask them to remove it. I think you can communicate with them."

But Mr Prescott said he understood the issue of "separateness" that Mr Straw talked about and encouraged a proper debate on the issue of multiculturalism.

He said that it should not be a "no go area" for discussion and added: "I think this debate does open it up - thank goodness Jack has done that.

"But I fear sometimes people might use it in a more prejudiced way and I am concerned it may damage relations rather than improve them."

Women's Minister Ruth Kelly supported the view that it was down to the individual's choice whether or not they wore a veil, but defended Mr Straw's right to air his views. She said: "It's their personal choice.

"I, along with many people, probably thought that some people wear the hijab not through choice but because they were expected to, and I found exactly the opposite.

"There was an overwhelming view that the people who were wearing the hijab wanted to do.

"We have to respect legitimate religious views, but we have to be clear on the need to balance respect for different cultures and religions with a clear view of what's acceptable and what's not."

Meanwhile, a leading Muslim blamed Jack Straw for an attack in which a woman's veil was torn from her face in Liverpool.

The woman was attacked by a man shouting racist abuse, the day after Mr Straw's comments.

Mohammed Akbar Ali, ex-chairman of the Liverpool Islamic Institute, said Mr Straw should have known better.

And Shahd Malik, Labour MP for Dewsbury and son of the former mayor of Burnley, Rafiq Malik, said Mr Straw's comments may have "unleashed forces more negative and corrosive than he anticipated".

He said: "I think there is a growing feeling among Muslims in Britain that something has got to give. They are genuinely fearful of attack."

The Blackburn MP did get some support in the form of Phil Woolas, the Communities and Local Government Minister.

He said: "The wearing of full veils could provoke fear and resentment and play into the hands of far-right activists."

Read Jack Straw's column which sparked the debate here.