Tories plan health checks on immigrants

The Tories today sparked protests with a threat to force immigrants and asylum seekers to be screened for deadly diseases.

Shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox claimed infections brought in by foreigners had made London "the TB capital of the western world".

He said a jump in Aids cases was "largely imported from Africa" while patients from overseas were draining NHS resources.

The proposals were condemnedby the Liberal Democrats as "unnecessary, extremist, unethical and unworkable".

A Government review is examining immigration and disease. It will set out its findings in the autumn, and sources said it could back some of the Tory recommendations.

Cases of TB and HIV in Britain have risen sharply in recent years. This is linked to infections brought into the UK by visitors, immigrants or asylum seekers.

Dr Fox accused the Government of having "stood silently by on the politically-correct sidelines" while Britain experienced a second Aids wave from Africa.

The Tories conceded that the issue was controversial, but Dr Fox added: "If issues such as the testing of those coming from overseas are not addressed by the political mainstream in a responsible and rational way, we risk them being hijacked by political extremists with an entirely different and undesirable agenda."