The Academies Bill, now being rushed through Parliament, will allow so called “free schools” to be established, outside local authority control.

Polly Toynbee, in today's Guardian, says this will pave the way for more faith schools which she believes are divisive.

I agree.

I raised the issue of faith schools with Tony Blair in December 2001. I told him I hadn't met anyone who was signed up to the policy.

Chris Mullin records Blair's response in his Diaries:

“We are between a rock and a hard place” said the Man. “Better to have Muslim schools which are properly inspected and regulated than leaving education to the imams and the mosques.”

In fact, Labour's policy to encourage the growth in faith schools dropped out of a clear blue sky – as was the case with so much of Blair's agenda. He believed it was “the right thing to do”.

Here in East Lancashire, the Labour Government spent millions on new schools. Every secondary school in Burnley is new. Next door in Pendle we have two brand new schools and four others in line for major rebuilds – until stopped by the Coalition Government.

And yet despite this, the demand for separate Muslim schools continues to grow. Forget the gleaming new facilities that are already here, new “free schools” will be cobbled together out of disused warehouses or redundant commercial buildings.

We have a brand new Burnley College. But the redundant old building has been given a new lease of life and is opening its doors as an “international college” for 1,500 Muslim girls.

Last year, in Pendle, the charity, Islamic Help, bought a seven acre industrial site in Brierfield which was to have been home to a 5,000 place Pendle Boarding School for Girls.

There was a huge outcry and the plan was abandoned. We now wait to see what alternative proposals emerge.

After the Burnley disturbances of 2001, the community cohesion guru, Ted Cantle, warned of the development of parallel communities, separated by geography, ethnicity and religion.

This trend can only accelerate if we encourage the growth of Muslim schools.

Jack Straw, whose Blackburn constituency is one of the most balkanised in Britain, defends faith schools, saying you can't have Church of England schools or Catholic schools but deny Muslims the right to have their own. It is a strong point. But does it trump all others?

What if the consequences lead to a bitterly divided society?

Last week, researchers from the University of Leeds told us that Britain in 2051 could be significantly more diverse with ethnic minorities making up one in five of the population.

If this is the future there is no time to waste.

Young people should be growing up together, enjoying each other's company and absorbing each other's cultures.

Don't tell me this is going to happen on the back of more and more faith schools.