Immigration review ordered days before EU enlargement

Mr Blair has issued a reassurance that Britain's borders have never been so secure, amid ordering a comprehensive review of immigration and asylum abuse just days before 10 nation states join the enlarged European Union.

The Prime Minister told top business leaders at the CBI conference yesterday that restrictions on housing and welfare benefits would help curb such abuses.

But Conservative leader Michael Howard responded to Mr Blair's speech by saying that the review displayed an element of "blind panic" and the government had "let us down" on immigration.

In his speech Mr Blair admitted there were "real concerns" about immigration and said that these were "not figments of racist imagination".

However, describing government strategy as having a number of "interlocking elements", the Prime Minister said: "We will neither be Fortress Britain, nor will we be an open house. Where necessary, we will tighten the immigration system. Where there are abuses we will deal with them, so that public support for the controlled migration that benefits Britain is maintained."

Measures will include tighter controls on access to social housing and Mr Blair said: "No-one will be able to come to the UK from anywhere in the enlarged European Union simply to claim benefits or housing. There will be no support for the economically inactive."

Quotas for low-skilled migrant workers are to be reduced.

While immigration had "suddenly become high on the agenda", Mr Blair urged "sensitivity in handling the issue".

The ten countries joining the European Union are: Cyprus; Czech Republic; Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Hungary; Malta; Poland; Slovakia; and Slovenia.

A UK citizen ID card scheme, currently undergoing a trial, is not expected to be fully operational until at least 2008.

(SP)