IN HIS short time at the Home Office, David Blunkett has not been frightened to duck contentious issues.

Already he had tackled drugs reform by suggesting a reclassification of cannabis. And last week he dared to propose reform of the police service, much to the consternation of rank-and-file officers.

But the timing of his entry into the debate on the future of immigration, coming as it does just before publication of reports into this summer's race riots in Bradford, Oldham and Burnley, may be more down to political expediency than political courage.

The reports are expected to conclude that while the riots were sparked by the activities of the British National Party and other far right groups, they were motivated not by race, but by social and economic deprivation.

It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that Mr Blunkett is pre-empting the findings of the reports, by trying to deflect criticism away from the Government's efforts to regenerate inner city areas with their high concentrations of immigrant families.

Until these fundamental problems are tackled, single-race ghettos will continue to exist. They will remain a hot bed of resentment by immigrant families, and a ready-made target for right-wing extremists.

Only when investment in these areas creates improved economic and social conditions to relieve the symptoms of alienation, can Mr Blunkett begin to fulfil his expectation that second and third generation immigrants will grow up with a true sense of belonging to the country where they live.

And we wonder how this vision of a future society, free from self-segregation where a diversity of cultures can flourish, squares with the Government's insistence that the concept of single faith schools should be expanded.

We do not doubt Mr Blunkett's integrity, nor his sincerity in wishing to remove racial tension and discrimination. But we are concerned about the timing and tone of his comments.

Mr Blunkett's ill-judged intervention into the immigration debate echoes Norman's Tebbit's notorious "cricket test" definition of Britishness.

While we share Mr Blunkett's desire to heal the divisions in our society, we fear he is giving ammunition to the extremist opinion intent on creating racism and prejudice.