He's right to encourage open debate

The Tory leader's choice of Burnley for his big speech on race and immigration was provocative.

It signals that the Conservative party is likely to go into the next election using immigration and asylum as major political issues against the Government.

It is almost impossible for them to do so without provoking accusations that they are playing with fire. Sections of the Tory party have a deeply unsavoury record on race, and it is true that a focus on immigration has historically been used by those who are simply hostile to any non-white migrants.

Yet Michael Howard's message on race was moderate, with a harshly worded warning to the extremists of the British National Party.

On immigration, Mr Howard's message is fairly moderate too - indeed it is little different from the Government's.

Indeed he is surely wrong to call for the introduction of work permits and other red tape for potential migrants from the new EU member states. With labour shortages in many parts of the country, the case for increased immigration is now clear.

But it would be quite wrong of the Left or the race relations lobby to label him a racist simply for raising the question of immigration.

While we should be able to agree on the benefits of more migration, at the same time we need to ask how far that immigration should go; how we maintain the idea of rights (for example to benefits) based on citizenship; and how we defend the integrity of the right to asylum in the face of a large number of patently unfounded claims.

To do so is not racist or xenophobic, as Commission for Racial Equality chairman Trevor Phillips claimed this week.

Those like Mr Phillips who imply the desirability of completely open borders should have the honesty to say so explicitly.

Such critics also conveniently ignore the fact that it is the Left's traditional white working-class base that is often most vocal in its opposition to immigration - as demonstrated by the rise of the BNP in blue-collar Burnley.

They also ignore the real discomfort with increased immigration voiced in surveys by large numbers of black and Asian Britons.

Shutting down debate about immigration leaves the BNP as the only voice on the issue in places like Burnley.

An open debate is the mark of a mature and confident multi-ethnic society. We should encourage it.