LONDON, Aug 8: Britain played down proposals on Monday that ethnic minorities be “rebranded” in a bid to facilitate their integration. In an interview with the Times newspaper, Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said that in meetings with Muslims over the coming weeks she would ask if they’d rather be called “British-Asian” or “Indian-British”.

But following an initial frosty response to the idea from Muslim leaders, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted the idea was not one that the government was actively pushing.

“This is something that has been put to Hazel Blears in meetings,” she said. “It is not something she suggested. It is not something that the government is proposing or suggesting.”

“In America, they do seem to have the idea that you’re an Italian-American or you’re an Irish-American, and that’s quite interesting. It’s about your identity, and I think it’s really important. I am going to talk to people and ask, ‘How does that feel?’” Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, blasted the idea as a backward move that classified people in terms of ethnicity.—AFP