Running battles were fought on the streets

"These things must be solved but the way they will not be solved is by telling people that they must live in house A or must not live in house B - it simply would not work."

Last year, an inquiry report by senior civil servant David Ritchie suggested that segregation was one of the root causes of racial mistrust within Oldham and was likely to cause more disturbances.

But in February, the council criticised the idea of forced integration as "artificial engineering".

Mr Singh called for a reversal of the policy of councils "dumping" Asian and Afro-Caribbean families onto the worst estates.

English language

In an interview in The Guardian newspaper, he said the UK should strive to bring communities together by developing "public policies which actively encourage integration".

Mr Singh also supported Home Secretary David Blunkett's calls to make immigrants learn English.

He said: "If you can't speak the language, who the hell will employ you?"

Three days of running battles between white and Asian youths brought the focus of the world's media to Oldham in May 2001 after racial tensions flared.