Visa rules for foreign workers to be stricter

Gordon Brown has ordered an urgent review into the recruitment of foreign health workers after the arrest of several doctors over the car bomb plots in London and Glasgow.

The Prime Minister promised visa rules for skilled immigrants, such as doctors, would be tightened and the security services' "watchlist" of potential terrorists would be expanded.

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At Prime Minister's Questions, which was dominated by the failed attacks, Mr Brown said it was "vitally important that the message is sent out to the rest of the world that we will stand strong, steadfast and united in the face of terror".

Sir Alan West, the new Security minister, will lead the investigation into NHS job checks and is expected to report back within weeks. The Department of Health has insisted existing checks are adequate but shockwaves have been sent through the Government by the disclosure that all eight people under arrest had links to the NHS.

Foreigners working in UK hospitals face a series of checks before they are allowed into the country and more before they can start jobs in hospitals, but NHS chiefs often depend on information provided by the authorities in unstable and even war-torn countries.

The Home Office's highly skilled migrant programme, used by hospitals to recruit medics, is also being toughened, with employers who sponsor foreign entrants under this scheme facing checks into their background.

Mr Brown said he would press countries in Europe and the Middle East to pool more information about the movements of potential terrorists across the world.