WEST Wilts MP Andrew Murrison has criticised Jack Straw's comments about the wearing of veils by Muslim women.

The shadow minister for health dismissed Mr Straw's view that communicating with someone who is covering their face is difficult, and said he would never dream of asking his constituents to remove a veil.

Writing in his local newspaper last week Mr Straw revealed he asked females in his Blackburn constituency to uncover their faces when they visited his surgery.

The former foreign secretary said he takes this view because he feels watching facial expressions is important for contact between two people, and argues the wearing of a veil prevents full communication.

His comments have received some strong and mixed reactions across the country and sparked a debate about how a multi-cultural society should deal with sensitive subjects such as this.

Mr Murrison said: "I didn't agree with what Jack Straw said and the thought to ask somebody to remove a veil would never even cross my mind.

"He said the covering of the face was bad for communication, but in times of communication one way to stop a conversation would be to ask someone to remove an item of clothing.

"I don't think it's difficult to communicate with somebody wearing a veil and his observations are wrong."

Part of the reason Mr Straw's comments have provoked such a reaction is because the population of his constituency is over 25 per cent Muslim, meaning he encounters women wearing veils very frequently in his surgery.

Although the percentage of Muslims in west Wiltshire is much lower than in Blackburn, people in this part of the county have some strong opinions about what he said.

Farzana Saker, secretary of the West Wiltshire Interfaith Group, which was formed last year to help people from different faiths integrate and build relationships, said: "I know some people looked at what has been said and have seen it as just another example of someone having a go at Muslims, but I have to say we (Muslim people) should not be so reactionary.

"My personal view is that a debate was needed so Jack Straw was right to bring it up, but it would have been better if he had spoken about it to local Muslim leaders first rather than going public with it right away.

"A politician like Jack Straw knows Muslims are very reactionary at the moment for a number of reasons and perhaps he should have been more aware of that, but I personally don't have a problem with what he said."