'Immigrants must learn proper English'

Michael Howard called for immigrants and their children to be taught English today.

He also he hit out at councils which used too many languages in their official literature.

Announcing plans for a return to traditional teaching in schools, Mr Howard pledged that a Tory government would ensure those from ethnic minorities would master the tongue of their new country.

The Conservative leader said that phonics, arithmetic and times tables would be used more widely in order to get the basics right in education.

But he stressed that society would benefit if children of immigrants were fluent English speakers: "A common language is the most obvious binding element in any society.

Without it, it is harder for people to be members of the community.

"It's important that people who make their home here learn the language of our nation. Of course people may choose to carry on speaking their family tongue at home - that must be a matter for them. But they need to learn English properly too."

Setting out the Conservatives' education policies at the press conference-Mr Howard also criticised some councils for publishing leaflets and material in a multitude of languages. Some London boroughs spend large sums translating documents into five languages.

"There's a continuing need to communicate with people who don't yet have a grasp of English. I'm not sure the multiplicity of some of the tongues in some of the documents

that local authorities put out is always justified."

Mr Howard promised to "root out political correctness" in education and replace it with "the building blocks of knowledge that are essential to give every child their birthright - a decent education".

He said there was overwhelming evidence that the "synthetic phonics" method facilitated children learning to read quicker than the newer methods used in most schools.

In response to a question on his decision to send his own son to Eton instead of a state school, the Tory leader replied that he believed there was not a good enough state school in London in the late 1980s.

"If there had been a state school in London that I would have had the

confidence in that would have given me the kind of education that I had at Llanelli Grammar School, I might have made a different choice. But I believe in choice and I exercised that choice on behalf of my children."

Labour's Barry Sheerman, who chaired the Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, said Mr Howard's Eton comments were a "dreadful slur" on state schools.

"It is also an indictment of the Tories' management of education as this was during the 18 years when they were in Government and were responsible for the standards of education in the state schools."

Meanwhile, the Tories were embroiled in an internet dirty tricks row today after setting up a "fake" website to attack the Lib Dems.

The Conservative site uses the address www.libdempolicy.com - a controversial practice known as cyber-squatting. Although not illegal, such sites have been condemned by the watchdog Electoral Commission. The Tory candidate in Winchester has a website in his Liberal Democrats opponent's name.