Immigration: Howard lights the touchpaper

Political leaders have been warned to back off from exploiting public fears over immigration and asylum - or they risk a surge in racially motivated violence and harassment of ethnic minorities.

The plea for restraint came after Michael Howard propelled the issue to the centre of the election battleground, accusing the Government of letting immigration run "out of control" and putting national security at risk with a lax attitude to border controls. Labour responded by claiming the Conservatives were stooping to "scurrilous, right-wing, ugly tactics" and in an interview in The Independent today, John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, accuses the Tories of being "nasty on some populist issues".

However, fears are growing that ministers could be forced into an "immigration bidding war" if the Tories continue to revive in the polls.

The issue has soared up the political agenda in recent months - and is now regularly listed among voters' top concerns - and the Tories are convinced it could prove a trump card for them.

But Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, warned that the tactic could lead to an increase in attacks on ethnic minorities.

He said: "Research shows that every time something hardline is said in the press by politicians about immigration, there is a direct link to racist attacks. That is the danger.

"I wouldn't advocate this whole thing being taboo. My concern is that the debate is conducted at such a profoundly ignorant level."

Mr Best, a former Tory MP, added: "The danger with cranking up the rhetoric on this subject is that one of them will implement what they say when they get into power."

The feverish atmosphere prompted the Commission for Racial Equality to serve notice on the political parties that it would closely monitor their pronouncements on race issues.

Trevor Phillips, its chairman, said: "Immigration is an important issue but it doesn't have to be divisive. You don't have to racialise it. We need a proper discussion about how we manage immigration but we don't have to turn it into a race row."

Speaking in Telford, Mr Howard said he was unrepentant about returning to the subject and attacked Tony Blair for "pussy-footing" around the issue. He said: "It's not racist to talk about immigration. It's not racist to criticise the system. It's not racist to want to limit the numbers. It's just plain common sense." He told a rally that the asylum system was "deeply inhumane and profoundly unjust" and claimed that immigration officials were forced to turn a blind eye to illegal entrants to keep down the official numbers.

"This is also playing fast and loose with our security. We face a real terrorist threat in Britain today - a threat to our way of life, to our liberties. Yet we have absolutely no idea who's coming into and leaving our country."

Mr Howard said Britain has an enviable record of racial integration but simply could not accommodate the millions who would settle in this country given the opportunity.

He said Government forecasts predicted five million more immigrants would head to Britain in the next 30 years and incomers are already "putting a strain on our public services in some areas".

Labour retaliated by producing Charles Wardle, the former Tory immigration minister who served under the Tory leader when he was Home Secretary. Mr Wardle said his former party's policies were "uncosted, unworkable and likely to make immigration and asylum problems worse not better". He claimed Mr Howard was unfit to be prime minister.

Peter Hain, the Commons Leader, denounced the Tories' "scurrilous, right-wing, ugly tactics". He told GMTV: "Michael Howard is just shamelessly using this issue to try and scare people back into voting Conservative without proposing any workable solutions."

Danny Sriskandarajah, research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a Blairite think-tank, said: "Immigration seems to have found its way to the top of the election agenda. But the sort of political bidding war we are seeing is simplistic and counter-productive."

¿ A YouGov survey for the Daily Telegraph put Labour and the Conservatives level on 36 per cent, ahead of the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent. But an ICM poll for the Daily Mirror and 'GMTV' put Labour on 38 per cent, the Tories on 33 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 22 per cent.