Labour attack Conservatives on immigration

Prime Minister Tony Blair has attacked the Conservatives election campaign on immigration, accusing them of attempting to “exploit people’s fears” on the issue.

Mr Blair also said that concerns about immigration were about fairness, not racism and pledged to improve the immigration system without penalising genuine asylum seekers and migrant workers who, Mr Blair, said made a "huge contribution" to Britain

Delivering his first election campaign speech on the issue in Dover, Mr Blair defended the Labour government’s record on immigration saying that the number of asylum seekers in Britain was now at its lowest level since March 1997.

The Prime Minister also announced a series of new measures Labour had planned to tackle immigration, including plans to recruit an extra 600 immigration officers, introduce a new points system for immigrant workers, ‘fast-tracking’ of the processing and removal of any failed asylum seekers and the introduction of electronic tagging to monitor applicants who are believed to be at risk of ‘disappearing’. He also said that Labour planned to introduce biometric identity cards to help tackle the problem – a move which has proved to be controversial and which is strongly opposed by the Liberal Democrats.

The Conservatives have called for annual limits to be imposed on the number of immigrants entering Britain, as well as claims to be processed overseas. Conservative leader Michael Howard has heavily criticised Labour’s policy on immigration and has has focused on the issue during his own party’s election campaign. However, Mr Blair rebuffed Mr Howard’s claims, saying that the Conservatives were turning into a “one issue party” and he described the party’s policies as “incoherent”.

However, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis hit back at Mr Blair’s criticism of the Conservatives immigration policy, saying it was “entirely responsible and sensible”. He said: “Every responsible government in this country over the years has recognised the need for controls on immigration. This government, interestingly, seems to think there’s no upper limit. We disagree.”

(KMcA/GB)