Tories to hold asylum seekers abroad

Asylum seekers could be held on foreign islands "far far away" from Britain, shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said.

The Tories are drawing up plans to take asylum seekers to offshore application centres to process their claims.

Mr Letwin today said the centres would be on foreign soil and not in British territories. But he said the exact locations would not be chosen until the Conservatives were in power.

A spokesman for Mr Letwin said: "There has been lots of speculation it could be a British territory like the Falklands but it definitely, definitely will not be.

"It will definitely be a foreign territory. It won't necessarily be outside Europe but Mr Letwin has said it would be 'far, far away'."

Mr Letwin himself said the centres would need to be outside the UK. But he said he could not select sites while in opposition.

"I am not going to go round the world and negotiate with foreign governments until and unless we are in government."

He told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost: "You can't do that rationally. No government is going to negotiate with you on that basis. The Australians use Nauru and Papua New Guinea. That gives you an idea of the sort of places that could be used."

He said the asylum system had to be brought back under control to save money and restore public confidence. The system was currently costing British taxpayers £1,800 million a year, he said, and economic migrants needed to be deterred from using the asylum system to get round migration controls.

The proposals have been drawn up by a commission, set up by Mr Letwin and chaired by Tory MEP and former Home Office minister Timothy Kirkhope.

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