Blair's target on asylum is a 'long-term aim,' says Home Office

Labour is presiding over "complete confusion" on asylum, the Tories claimed yesterday after the Home Office appeared to water down Tony Blair's promise to halve the number of asylum-seekers arriving in Britain.

"Does the Government have a target or a commitment to reduce asylum applications by half by September or not?" demanded Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary. "If so, how does it intend to achieve this result?

"It is entirely unclear whether the stream of recent leaks and vague statements mean that the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary now agree with us that the medium-term solution needs to be a complete change in the system, with quotas for genuine refugees instead of ... onshore asylum applications."

The Home Office denied reports that David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, had condemned the goal as "unachievable". But the department did say that halving the number of asylum-seekers entering the country was a "long-term" aim, despite Mr Blair's specific pledge last week.

Senior government sources attempted to defuse the ensuing furore, insisting that the Home Office "hoped and expected" to meet Mr Blair's goal by his September deadline.

Figures for October 2002, the month before the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act became law, are expected to show that 9,000 asylum-seekers entered Britain. Ministers believe they must cut that figure to 4,500 in the statistics for September 2003, which are to be published before Christmas.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister was highlighting progress that we expect to make."