A spokesman for Gordon Brown said: “Our general position is that sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes. If there are specific instances like stamp duty, where changes can be made in a way that’s consistent with British law and British values, in a way to accommodate the values of fundamental Muslims, that is something the Government would look at. “But the Prime Minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values.”

David Blunkett former Home Secretary, said formalising sharia law in the UK would be “catastrophic” for social cohesion. "I think this is very dangerous because the Archbishop used the term affiliations,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “We have affiliations to football clubs, to cricket teams, to all sorts of things that aren’t central to our citizenship and the acceptance of that in terms of a common society. We don’t have affiliations when it comes to the question of the law. And when it comes to equality under the law, we have to be rigorous in terms of making sure people do not find themselves excluded from it because of cultural or faith reasons."

Formalising sharia law “would be wrong democratically and philosophically but it would be catastrophic in terms of social cohesion”, Mr Blunkett warned.

Trevor Phillips chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, called Williams’ intervention “muddled and unhelpful”. “Raising this idea will give fuel to anti-Muslim extremism,” he added.

Khalid Mahmood, Labour parliamentarian said: “I, along with the vast majority of UK Muslims, oppose any such move to introduce sharia here. British law is the envy of the world.”

Baroness Warsi, Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action said: "The Archbishop's comments are unhelpful and may add to the confusion that already exists in our communities. Of course...we must ensure that people of all backgrounds and religions are treated equally before the law. Freedom under the law allows respect for some of religious practices. But let's be absolutely clear. All British citizens must be subject ot British laws developed through Parliament and the courts."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "While having an enormous amount of respect of Rowan Williams, I cannot agree with his conclusions on this issue. Equality before the law is part of the glue that binds our society together. We cannot have a situation where there is one law for one person and different laws for another."

The Bishop of Southwark, Dr Tom Butler, acknowledged the Archbishop had strayed into “a minefield” but insisted he had also raised legitimate questions. He said: “What has been explosive is that his examples have referred to sharia law, which is an emotive concept in our society. He is saying these sharia councils in some places already exist informally. It might be better to formalise them under British law, to make sure they do correspond to British law. But there are real practical difficulties.” He added: “It will take a great deal more thought and work before I think it is a good idea... The Archbishop has a way with language, but this was a very heavy lecture.”

Professor Tariq Ramadan, a Prominent Islamic scholar who teaches at Oxford University, told the Today programme: “These kinds of statements just feed the fears of fellow citizens and I really think we, as Muslims, need to come with something that we abide by the common law and within these latitudes there are possibilities for us to be faithful to Islamic principles.”

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir Ali, who received death threats after claiming that Britain had "no-go areas" for non-Muslims said: "We welcome progressive views on the development of Sharia. These will enable Muslims to relate better to the contemporary world and will ease the situation of non-Muslims in many Muslims countries. They are not, however, an argument for disturbing the integrity of a legal tradition which is rooted in the quite different moral and spiritual vision deriving from the Bible."

Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, a Leiceister imam and expert in interfaith issues for the Muslim Council of Britain, said his fear was that Islamophobic and racist groups would use the Archbishop's remarks to attack Islam. He said: "I welcome debate on this issue but my personal feeling is that the vast majority of Muslims do not want to see a parallel or separate system for Muslims in our society."

Peter Bottomley, Conservative MP for Worthy West said the Archbishop had accurately described the present situation. “For example, if I have a Muslim employee, I rightly make reasonable accommodation to meet their religious obligations. Ministers have been all over the radio and television for the past two years saying how they have adapted the financial laws to make sharia-compliant banking possible. The Archbishop says accurately it’s inevitable, it’s happening and the Government have led it. The question of whether there will be further accommodation or adaptation is a more minor issue than some loudmouths have realised.”

Andy Burnham Culture Secretary said: You cannot run two systems of law alongside each other. That would be a recipe for chaos.”

Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, “The response to Dr William's comments illustrate both the profound level of ignorance in Britain about the Islamic Shariah and the near total blindness of some to the flaws within secularism and the harms it has caused in its implementation across the world... the rights of minorities were protected in the Islamic tradition. The Shariah law protected the right of citizens of other minorities to live according to their faith traditions within their personal lives. Though many in the west claim to approach issues rationally, many utterly fail to respect the opinions of those they disagree with.“