COMMUNITIES Secretary Ruth Kelly has signalled a break with Labour's commitment to multiculturalism, suggesting it may have led to isolated communities with no common bonds.

In the wake of last year's July 7 suicide bomb attacks in London, the Bolton West MP said it was essential to start building greater cohesion between Britain's various ethnic and religious groupings and avoid creating further divisions between them.

Speaking at the launch of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, set up as part of the Government's response to the bombings, Ms Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, called for an "honest debate" on how to best to bind communities together.

She also praised Bolton's race relations and said they were working well - but insisted there was still room for improvement.

In an interview with the Bolton Evening News, Ms Kelly she said she wanted towns and cities to have Race Equality Charters similar to one drawn up in Burnley.

"Local authorities have to play better roles in integrating new migrants. Where are the local jobs? Is English being taught well?", she said.

The concept of multi-culturalism has come under frequent attack recently from prominent figures including Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality. And yesterday, the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali said: "I think it has failed in some quite obvious respects."

But Ms Kelly said: "There is huge value in diversity. Immigrants have contributed so much to public services and we must recognise that while not ignoring the problems.

"We need to share values and tolerance and a respect of the law, while recognising that people have multiple cultures. That way we can gain a shared understanding."

She said it was vital to have a new and honest debate about immigration and asylum based on fact not myth and echoed Home Secretary, John Reid, in insisting that it was not "racist" to discuss immigration and asylum issues and calling for a policy of "controlled" immigration.

"We must not be censored by political correctness, and we must not tiptoe around important issues," she said.

During the launch, Ms Kelly said the attempts to avoid imposing a single British identity and culture meant we had ended up with some communities living in isolation from each other with no common bonds.

Asked if this meant we needed to impose a single British identity and culture, she answered: "We will not take away the civic choice of where people live or in which schools people choose to educate their children.

"We will be looking at the effects of segregation and what has caused, in some cases, this segregation of cultures."

Ms Kelly warned that there could be no "special treatment" for minority ethnic or faith communities as it simply bred resentment and exacerbated divisions.

There were "non-negotiable" rules which all communities "both new and established" had to accept, she said. "We must be clear and unafraid to say that we expect these will be shared and followed by all who live here," she said.

It was up to the "responsible majority" to marginalise those elements who sought to cause "conflict and tension" between communities.

"That means everyone is involved," she said.