A BAN on wearing the burka in public in the Netherlands moved a step closer yesterday, just five days before voters go to the polls in elections that had not until now focused on issues of race and immigration.

The country’s controversial Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, revived the idea of a ban, raising the pressure on the next government to outlaw full-face coverings.

Parliament has twice called for legislation on a ban to be formally drawn up and the minority Government finally agreed, Ms Verdonk announced last night. The burka would be banned by law in the street and in schools, trains, buses and the law courts.

Ms Verdonk, a leading member of the smaller government coalition party, has made the ban a personal crusade and yesterday announced support from the main ruling party, the Christian Democrats, led by Jan Peter Balkenende.

The agreement to investigate all the legal hurdles follows a report from an expert committee, which concluded that it would not contravene the Dutch Constitution.

It brings a ban a step closer because the move also has the support in parliament of the main opposition parties, Labour (PvdA) and the Socialists.

Ms Verdonk said: “[It is] undesirable that face-covering clothing is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and the protection of citizens.”

About one million of the Netherlands’ 16 million people are Muslim, but very few routinely wear the burka.

Nevertheless, tensions over the assimilation of immigrants, many of whom come from Turkey and Morocco, have been a leading national issue. They were exacerbated by the 2004 murder by a Muslim fanatic of the film maker Theo van Gogh, an outspoken critic of Islam.

The main Dutch Muslim organisation, the CMO, called the plan “an overreaction to a very marginal problem”.

While the decision caused an outcry from a group representing Muslims in the Netherlands, the move towards Europe’s first national ban on the wearing of full Muslim dress in public is not regarded as particularly controversial within the country.

Kees Lunshof, political commentator of De Telegraaf newspaper, said: “This is the wish of the second chamber and Parliament asked for this six months ago. It is nothing directly due to the elections — it was already in the air.”

However, Ms Verdonk may have been anxious to secure CDA backing because her own party, the VVD, has plummeted in the polls and may not even form part of the new government.

Other forms of full-face coverings, such as motorcycle helmets with the visors down, would also be covered by a legal public ban. No other European country has yet introduced a general ban on certain types of Muslim clothing, although in France girls are forbidden to wear headscarves in school.

In Utrecht, some welfare benefits have been cut for unemployed women who wear burkas to job interviews because the authorities claim that they could be using the clothing to avoid certain jobs.

Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons, stirred controversy in Britain in the summer when he called for a debate on whether Muslim women should totally cover their faces in public.

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