Europe minister Peter Hain has sparked controversy after expressing concern at the failure of Muslim immigrants to integrate with the rest of the UK.

Hain was criticised after he used an interview with a Sunday newspaper to attack "very isolationist" elements of the Muslim community who were fuelling racial tensions.

"Muslim immigrants can be very isolationist in their own behaviour and their own customs," he told The Sunday Times.

"That in the end is going to create real difficulties and is likely to be ripe for exploitation by extremists."

He said the failure of some Muslims to integrate was "in the end going to create real difficulties" in the UK.

"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 [Pim] 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," he said.

"It takes two to integrate, and we need to work with the Muslim community," he added.

"We need to work much harder to integrate Muslims in particular with the rest of society."

Hain's comments were attacked by Muslim representatives, who called on him to withdraw the remarks.

"It is very sad. As a political activist, Peter Hain should know better," said Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the leader of the UK's "Muslim parliament".

Labour peer Lord Ahmed also expressed concern at the minister's choice of language.

"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," he told The Sunday Times.