Muslim women who fail to learn English to a high enough standard could face deportation from Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron announced yesterday.
Cameron’s comment came as his centre-right Conservatives launched a £20mn language fund for women in isolated communities as part of a drive to build community integration.
Immigration rules already force spouses to speak English before they come to Britain to live with their partners.
But Cameron said they would also face further tests after two-and-a-half years in the country to make sure their language skills were improving.
“You can’t guarantee you will be able to stay if you are not improving your language,” he told BBC radio. “People coming to our country, they have responsibilities too.”
Cameron’s government estimates that around 190,000 Muslim women in England - about 22% - speak little or no English.
There are estimated to be around 2.7mn Muslims in England out of a total population of some 53mn.
Cameron said that a lack of language skills could make Muslims in Britain more vulnerable to the message of extremist groups.
“I am not saying there is some sort of causal connection between not speaking English and becoming an extremist, of course not,” he told BBC radio.  
“But if you are not able to speak English, not able to integrate, you may find therefore you have challenges understanding what your identity is and therefore you could be more susceptible to the extremist message.”
His comments drew criticism from Muslim groups and opposition parties.
Mohamed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, which campaigns for better community relations, accused Cameron of “disgraceful stereotyping”.
“David Cameron and his Conservative government are once again using British Muslims as a political football to score cheap points to appear tough,” he added.
Andy Burnham, home affairs spokesman for the main opposition Labour party, accused Cameron of a “clumsy and simplistic approach” which was “unfairly stigmatising a whole community.”
Labour MP Rupa Huq accused Cameron of “playing to the gallery” by suggesting the authorities would deport women for failing to learn English while at the same time cutting back lessons in English as a foreign language at FE colleges.
Cameron was branded “lazy and misguided” by a former Cabinet minister. Former Tory chairman, Baroness Warsi, welcomed the announcement of £20mn extra for teaching English to migrants but said it should apply to “everyone in this country, man or woman, of any religion or none”.
Lady Warsi added: “Once again an important policy announcement has been tarnished by lazy and misguided links to extremism and terrorism resulting once again in stereotyping Britain’s Muslims communities as different and outsiders”.
She pointed out that her own mother had modest English but encouraged all her children to get on. “Mum’s English isn’t great yet she inspired her girls to become a lawyer, teacher, accountant, pharmacist, Cabinet minister,” Lady Warsi later tweeted.