Former health secretary Frank Dobson is to launch a bid to force faith schools to accept children of different religions, it emerged today. Mr Dobson, an outspoken critic of Labour's policy of encouraging faith schools, has tabled two amendments to the government's education bill, which is being discussed in the Commons tomorrow.
Under Mr Dobson's proposals, faith schools would be obliged to offer 25% of their places to children of parents with other religions or no faith at all.
"This is an issue of principle. People use public money and exclude children on the grounds of their religion. If somebody suggested they were going to do it on race everybody would be outraged," he said.
"The thing that concerns we most is that we live in a society which is becoming increasingly divided and it seems to me not a very sound idea to increase the divisions by dividing school children."
It is the first time Mr Dobson, the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, has reemerged into the political limelight since his disastrous campaign to become mayor of London.
Referring to the picketing of children outside Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast, Mr Dobson said he believed the system of selection for religious schools led to divided communities.
"I do not believe that the vile behaviour of the Protestant people at that primary school would have occurred if their children had been going to that school as well as Catholic children."
Under the second of Mr Dobson's two amendments, only new faith schools would have to adhere to the 25% quota.
"I'm trying to be as reasonable as possible about this. The government and the archbishop of Canterbury have talked about religious schools being more open and welcoming, that's what these amendments are about."
Mr Dobson said it was "utterly irrelevant" to the debate that his son had converted to Islam.
The prime minister's official spokesman said the government understood the reasons for the amendment.
"I think the problem is one of practicality in its operation," he said.
"The government's approach does address the desire for inclusivity because what it does is, instead of leaving it to independent schools to set their own agenda, it brings faith schools within the state sector, within the National Curriculum where they do have a duty to promote inclusivity."
The National Secular Society said Mr Dobson's amendments were a "step forward" but did "not go nearly far enough".
Executive director Keith Porteous Wood said: "Faith schools amount to a third of all schools and in some counties there are more faith schools than community schools.
"In such circumstances it is completely unacceptable and unfair for places to be allocated based on the parents' belief."