The home secretary has warned press and opposition against "whipping up scares" over asylum seekers.

David Blunkett 's note of caution over the community impact of asylum controversies followed a row over the use of a Kent hotel as an induction centre for refugees.

"Whipping up scares which can do no good in terms of our security measures and every harm to our community and race relations, which I have to say are often fragile and could so easily tip over into a situation which we could not control," he said.

But he conceded that the National Asylum Support Service had been "unsatisfactory and incompetent" in its purchase the Sittingborne hotel.

Blunkett also gave strong backing to the introduction of a national ID card as a "robust" asylum vetting measure.

"I believe that until we have an entitlement or ID card for all those in our country we will not have a robust way of determining true identity or right to work," he said