David Blunkett will attempt to stem the flow of legal aid to asylum seekers as part of his new immigration bill.

The new asylum clampdown is to proceed despite the fact that the quarterly figures to be published on Thursday are expected to show that the prime minister's target of halving the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain has been met.

The home secretary said yesterday that Iraqi asylum seekers should be made to return home now that the Kurdish-run area in the north of the country is "generally overwhelmingly safe".