Michael Howard is visiting Burnley, hit by race riots in 2001

In what is being billed as a "positive" speech, he will stress the value of welcoming ethnic minorities to the UK.

But he will say a balance between tough asylum rules and the controlled immigration of skilled workers is the key to harmonious race relations.

On Sunday he told the News of the World he would cut asylum seekers' benefits.

The cash saved would be spent on policing, he told the paper.

'Economic migrants'

"We will not allow the same number of bogus asylum seekers to receive benefits while they stay here," he said.

"That will save a huge amount of money, and we will use it to recruit an extra 5,000 police a year."

He reiterated previous statements that the Conservatives would insist that asylum applications were processed before the people in question reached Britain.

"That will ensure [genuine refugees] can still travel to Britain, but that those who are merely economic migrants do not place an intolerable burden on the state," he said.

Mr Howard has now spent 100 days as Conservative leader, since taking over from Iain Duncan Smith.

His visit to Burnley is part of a three-day tour of the North West.

Michael Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister, said on Saturday that Mr Howard had made the party a "fighting force".