Teachers could be forced to allow full-face veils to be worn in classrooms if ministers accept a new definition of Islamophobia, one of the country’s leading equality campaigners has warned.

Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said it would be a “grave mistake” to define Islamophobia as a form of racism, as a committee of MPs and peers has recommended.

Mr Phillips said defining Muslims as a race would “actually make life harder for them” instead of helping and that it would “reduce the lives of British Muslims… to the status of perpetual victims and pawns in some wider battle”.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims published a report in November which urged the Government to adopt a new definition of Islamophobia.

The definition read: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

A new report published by the Policy Exchange think tank raises major concerns about the definition and urges ministers not to adopt it.

The report said the proposed definition was “not only inadequate but divisive and potentially damaging to social cohesion”.

It warned it would “risk endangering free speech, press freedom and open the door to an assault on current counter-extremism policy”.