An all-out ban on burkinis would stoke tensions, the French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve admitted in an interview published on Sunday. 

The French government would refuse to legislate on the issue after around 30 local mayors and councils imposed the ban in their local area. Cazeneuve said a state-wide block would be "unconstitutional, ineffective and likely to create antagonism and irreparable tension".

He said: "However, Muslims must continue to engage with us over gender equality, the inviolable nature of the principles of the French Republic, and tolerance in order to live together".

The comments to La Croix newspaper come after France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, ruled on Friday against a decision to ban the burkini by the mayor of the resort town of Villeneuve-Loubet.

The ruling may set a precedent for the dozens of French towns that have also ordered burkini bans. Cazeneuve admitted the court had "stated the law" with its ruling. 

But the majority of mayors who imposed the ban have refused to lift it despite the court's ruling. The specific case forced the mayor in the riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet to remove the decree. But more than 20 mayors from other southern towns, which were expected to comply from the precedent set by the court, have ignored its decision.

The stand-off has created a dilemna for the French government and Cazeneuve is expected to make an announcement on Monday as to whether he will force mayors to back down.  

The issue has become politically charged at the start of party primaries ahead of next year's presidential election in France, with several leaders on the right and far-right calling for a law prohibiting the full-body swimming costume worn by some Muslim women.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy who is staging a political comeback and is seeking the ticket of the conservative Les Republicains in primaries set for November, has called for a law allowing mayors to ban the burkini.

But Cazeneuve's comments suggest such a law was unlikely under the current socialist government.

"We do not need a new law. Current laws clearly lay out France's secularism."

The debate was fueled by footage of police trying to enforce the ban on a woman on a beach in Nice.

The controversy, coupled with several Islamist militant attacks in France since January 2015, has filtered into early campaigning for the presidential election in April 2017, making French cultural identity and security highly-charged issues in the political debates.

"France needs healing and people coming together, not divisive outbursts by those contesting in primaries," Cazeneuve said.

The ban caused outrage in the UK with a protest staged outside the French embassy in London on Thursday.

Additional reporting by Reuters.