Howard ignites row over migrants

Michael Howard sparked a major new political row over immigration and race today.

In a landmark speech the Tory leader set out his party's policies on the sensitive subject, which will be high on the agenda in the run-up to the next election.

He launched a strong attack on Labour's stance on immigration - including the Government's "failure" to deal with public concerns over people coming to Britain from the European Union's new member states. Ministers

hit back at him, with a spokesman for Home Secretary David Blunkett claiming Labour's record compared well with the Tories' years in power.

The asylum backlog has been halved from the level Labour inherited in 1997, the spokesman added.

On a visit to the Lancashire town of Burnley, which was hit by Britain's worst race riots in two decades, Mr Howard also launched an outspoken attack on the far-right British National Party. He branded the BNP a "stain" on British democracy and warned of the "shame" that would be visited on the UK if the party won a seat in the European parliament in elections this summer.

His speech was seen as a deliberate attempt to stop the Tories being portrayed as Right-wing extremists, a charge levelled by ministers during the leaderships of William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith.

Mr Howard claimed far-Right parties would only flourish if governments pursued "failed" immigration policies, a charge he levelled firmly at Tony Blair. He turned the spotlight on the Government's problems over how to address public fears about immigrants from the EU's 10 new member states coming to Britain after 1 May, particularly from Eastern Europe.

After a Cabinet "deal" earlier this week, new measures are expected to be announced next week, including a workpermit scheme and moves to delay the payment of benefits to new migrants for up to two years.

But Mr Howard claimed: "Almost every other country in the EU has quite rightly taken the precaution of putting in place transitional arrangements to deal with immigration from the accession countries.

"It is still not too late for the British Government to put in place transitional arrangements as well. If we were in government, we would do so.

" The Government has approached this problem in typical fashion. First it failed to address it, then it ignored it, now it is claiming to face up to it."

Mr Blunkett's spokesman said: "Michael Howard is clearly hoping the public don't remember either his record or recent announcements on asylum and immigration. It is this Government - not his - which has developed a successful strategy which has cracked down on the abuse of the asylum system while welcoming in legal migrants."

Using his own background as the son of immigrants, and whose grandmother died at Auschwitz, Mr Howard stressed the importance to Britain of ethnic minorities being made to feel welcome. But he also claimed that a balance between consistent asylum rules and the controlled immigration of workers with skills needed here is the route to harmonious race relations.

Turning to the BNP, he claimed: "The policies of the British National Party are based on bigotry and hatred. Its approach is entirely alien to our political traditions. The BNP preaches a message of racism, intolerance and brutality that flies in the face of this country's history and heritage."

The Tory leader's decision to choose Burnley for his speech was attacked as "disgraceful political opportunism" by Shahid Malik, a member of Labour's ruling National Executive-Committee. Mr Malik, who lives in the town, told Radio 4's World At One: "I just think it is going to be completely counter-productive and I can't believe this level of irresponsibility from somebody as senior as Michael Howard."

Lib- Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten also condemned Mr Howard's "opportunistic" decision.