Pledge to halve asylum applications within six months

Tony Blair was accused of "talking pie in the sky" last night after he made a surprise pledge to halve the number of asylum-seekers arriving in Britain by September.

The Prime Minister triggered criticism from the Tory party and refugee groups when he said that he was confident that the Government could reduce the number of applications for asylum. Figures due out shortly are expected to show numbers topped 100,000 for the first time in 2002.

In an interview for Newsnight on BBC2, Mr Blair was asked how far he wanted to see the number of asylum-seekers cut. "I would like to see us reduce it by 30 per cent to 40 per cent in the next few months and I think by September of this year we should have it halved," he said. "I think we can get below that then, in the years to come."

Mr Blair said efforts had to focus on stopping immigrants entering Britain illegally in the first place. "Once people get in ... then it is very difficult to get them back," he said.

Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, predicted Mr Blair's aim to halve the total would eventually be dropped, just as the Home Office had abandoned its target to remove 30,000 failed asylum-seekers a year. "He's talking pie in the sky," he said. "It is extremely dangerous for anyone to set targets in this field because the flow of asylum-seekers is beyond the control of any domestic politician."

A Home Office spokeswoman said the "baseline" for the Prime Minister's commitment would be October of last year. Figures for that month have not yet been officially released but they are expected to approach 9,000, meaning the target by September would be 4,500 a month.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, dismissed Mr Blair's comments, telling the One O'Clock News on BBC1: "What he has to do is say that we will only take certain quotas. When he does that, that will be about taking real action. Right now, it is promises and targets and the Government has failed endlessly to meet any of its targets."

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, told the Commons that from next Tuesday all holders of refugee travel documents would need a visa before travelling to the UK.

He also announced the addition of seven "safe countries" – including several Balkan states and Jamaica – to the list of nations from which claims by asylum-seekers would normally be automatically rejected.Postal applications for asylum will also cease from today.