Blunkett in race row

David Blunkett triggered a fresh race row today with an extraordinary declaration that local communities are being "swamped" by asylum seekers.

The Home Secretary's use of such an emotive term was certain to spark a bitter backlash from Labour MPs - and also landed him with an unprecedented rebuke from the Tories.

Mr Blunkett's outburst came as he used a radio interview to launch a strong defence of his hardline immigration policies before a Commons debate on the subject today.

These include moves to detain asylum seekers in secure accommodation centres, tearing up the previous policy of "dispersing" immigrants to towns and cities. Asylum seekers wanting full refugee status will have to have their children educated in the centres. With anti-racist Leftwing-Labour MP Diane Abbott listening to his remarks in a BBC studio, Mr Blunkett continued: "People will be able to come and go - but importantly not swamping the local school."

Mr Blunkett said the dispersal system, introduced under his predecessor Jack Straw, had sparked an "avalanche of criticism". He added: "People said it caused havoc within certain communities." He spoke of a GP surgery in his Sheffield constituency where doctors told him they could not cope because one third of patients spoke no English and required " intensive language interpretation". He said: "That is silly. That's disrupting the community. It causes friction. It is, if you like, the firelighter for the BNP and others who want to cause mayhem."

Mr Blunkett claimed his determination to address issues such as immigration and street crime was a vital weapon in the fight against the rise of far-Right parties.

However, there were signs he immediately regretted using the term "swamped" as he told his interviewer on Radio 4's Today programme: "I've been very careful since June never to use words that would inflame racism."

In an astonishing reversal of last year's general election campaign when Labour accused the Tories of playing the race card, Mr Blunkett came under fire from shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin. Mr Letwin said of the issue: "The most important thing... is that we discuss it in terms which are sensitive and rational."

Before Mr Blunkett's comments, Ms Abbott said the Government was "playing to the NF agenda" and called for a Royal Commission on immigration and asylum. Mr Blunkett hit back: "We need a Royal Commission like a hole in the head." After his interview, she told BBC News 24: "It is unfortunate that David chose to use the word 'swamping'. We are talking about children here, not raw sewage."

She accused the Home Secretary of using rhetoric "which is meant to appease white voters but actually can just feed people's fears".

Mr Blunkett's comments followed a bitter attack by Tony Blair on the "repellent" policies of French far-Right leader Jean-Marie le Pen, calling him a racist and saying he must be opposed at every turn.

The Prime Minister, speaking as protests continued in France in the wake of Le Pen reaching the final round of his country's presidential elections, said: "I don't know Le Pen but I find his policies repellent.

"I think it is vitally important that people who believe in democracy, who loathe those policies of racism and narrow-minded nationalism, fight it at every level."