A raft of new technology targeting illegal immigrants to the UK has been outlined by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Mr Blunkett was in Dover as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw went to Luxembourg to discuss a range of EU-wide proposals for tackling immigration.

Asylum is a Europe-wide issue which we need to address at a European level

David Blunkett

Mr Blunkett was seeing a seismic sensor which the Immigration Service is using to detect the heartbeat of potential illegal immigrants concealed in lorries.

He also saw a new gamma scanner, which gives an image of the inside of the vehicle.

The scanner has just been installed and will "go live" next week.

"Effective border controls are essential to make sure that only those who have a right to be here are allowed in," said Mr Blunkett.

Talks planned

"We are putting in place substantial investment in new technology which will help ensure the integrity of Britain's borders."

Blunkett says members states must get their act together

Mr Blunkett said he was hoping to meet the new French interior minister shortly.

"Of course illegal immigration is not just a UK problem. Asylum is a Europe-wide issue which we need to address at a European level."

Mr Blunkett insisted that ensuring strong borders would not turn the UK into a fortress.

"We are an open trading nation and are opening up new managed migration routes for people to come here and work legally in ways that boost our economy."

Meanwhile Mr Straw is holding talks with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg ahead of next weekend's summit in Seville.

The conference will examine a series of proposals for an EU-wide approach to immigration.

Relating immigration to aid

That includes the possibility of attaching conditions to existing EU aid in the hope of persuading developing countries to take their own measures.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "It's not about cutting aid.

"There's a lot of conditionality anyway as far as aid payments are concerned - quite rightly, as they come from British and EU taxpayers."

He added: "I think it's entirely reasonable that we should seek to using all appropriate influence to ensure that countries (of origin and migration) do their bit.

"They may not be able to stop economic migration out, but for sure they can help to ensure that people who are rejected as asylum-seekers are taken back and properly accommodated," he said.

European interior ministers have already agreed a series of proposals from Mr Blunkett.

The measures, which must be endorsed by the Seville summit, include a broad agreement on the need for increased surveillance of sea borders and economic incentives for third countries that co-operate to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

The European Commission believes there may be as many as 500,000 illegal immigrants in the EU.