The Conservatives have come under fire on all sides over their remarks on asylum, from Labour and Liberal Democrat opponents, as well as the UN refugee agency.

To play politics with this is a very dangerous thing to do

Barbara Roche

Ms Roche said the Conservatives should "watch their language" over asylum-seekers and said she had reluctantly concluded they were using race as an electoral issue.

She said bogus asylum-seekers had to be removed from the country, but that the Conservatives' "appalling" language was a very different story.

"To play politics with this is a very dangerous thing to do," she said.

Race watchdog case

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes is referring both Labour and Tory remarks on asylum-seekers to the Commission for Racial Equality.

He has accused the parties of spurning racial tolerance to appear tough on asylum-seekers for political advantage.

Mr Hughes, a former human rights lawyer, said the Tories' local election manifesto, as well as Labour and Tory speeches and statements, would therefore be referred to the race equality watchdog.

Hughes: Growing concern

He said: "There is growing concern that the struggle by the Conservative and Labour parties to be seen to be tough on asylum and immigration issues is motivated by short term party political advantage, rather than any objective of longer term racial and national tolerance."

He added: "We pander to hostility to immigrants at our peril. We undermine our international obligation to those seeking asylum to our national discredit."

The UN refugee agency said the Conservative's election manifesto played into the hands of racists and xenophobes.

The Tory manifesto says that racketeers are "flooding our country with bogus asylum-seekers", and accuses Labour of being a "soft touch" on the issue.

We pander to hostility to immigrants at our peril

Simon Hughes

It says that each household in Britain is paying �160 a year to cover the cost of processing asylum-seeker claims.

The UNHCR says this amounts to Conservatives whipping up fear to try to win votes. The UN agency has also criticised Labour for its silence on the issue.

It also said the government had done nothing to combat the current climate of hostility towards asylum-seekers.

Afghan jet delay anger

The row was fuelled after five people were arrested at a far-right National Front demonstration on Saturday against the numbers of asylum seekers being housed in the seaside town of Margate, Kent.

Arrivals of new immigrants hit a record 100,000 last year and the hijacking of an Afghan plane to Stansted Airport brought debate over asylum-seekers to a head.

Conservative Home Affairs spokesman David Lidington stood by the wording of the manifesto.

Parties accused of using refugee question as political football

He said: "What we're doing is giving expression to the genuine feelings of anger among very large numbers of British people at the fact that our immigration controls and our tradition of giving hospitality to genuine refugees is currently being abused, and that the Labour government has taken insufficient action to bring this crisis to an end."

Mr Lidington also accused Home Secretary Jack Straw of failing to deliver on promises to deal swiftly with the asylum claims lodged by passengers from the hijacked Stansted Afghan jet.

Appeals against Mr Straw's decision to reject 26 applications are due to begin on May 8 - only one week faster than cases not being fast-tracked.

The Lord Chancellor's Department said decisions over dates were set by the judiciary which was independent of ministers and much preparation was needed.