Michael Howard used the final prime minister's questions before MPs rise for the Easter recess to challenge Tony Blair over the "chaos" in the UK's immigration system.

Amid angry scenes in the Commons the Conservative leader warned that the Home Office had lost control of immigration policy.

"On Monday the home secretary said this was all about naked politics. Yesterday he said it was all very serious and profound and that he was going to suspend all applications from Bulgaria and Romania," Howard said.

The prime minister hit back by warning that it took 18 months to reach an immigration decision during Howard's time as home secretary in the 1990s.

And he denied that migrants are "being waived through on false documents" in order to bring down asylum numbers.

The Sun reports that Number 10 has "taken charge" of the row following weeks of bad headlines.