The resignation of Beverley Hughes has turned up the heat on David Blunkett and pushed the immigration system into crisis.

The prime minister and the home secretary are today facing top-level calls for an urgent independent inquiry into claims that ministers repeatedly ignored warnings that the immigration system was being abused.

As Tony Blair mounted an 11th hour bid to restore confidence in the system, Blunkett is coming under intense media pressure.

Hughes quit insisting she did nothing wrong - but admitted that she had been aware of immigration fears a full 12 months before an on-air denial.

She accepted that answers given on Newsnight on Monday were not consistent with the fact that junior Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth had alerted her to the immigration work visa scam last March.

Hughes is replaced by the Brownite Scottish MP Des Browne.

Fleet Street responds

Today's media suggests the crisis could envelop both the home secretary and, potentially, the prime minister himself.

The Times suggests that immigration chaos has "engulfed Labour" - with the Express suggesting Blair's job is on the line following the affair.

The Guardian concludes that the immigration system has suffered a "lethal loss of public confidence" in the wake of recent events, while the Telegraph says that David Blunkett is "on the rack".

In the Independent, Robin Cook suggests that if Hughes was unable to manage the immigration system then no-one will be able to.

The Sun's political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, says that "Beverley Hughes will be swiftly forgotten. But this government's serious failure over illegal immigration will not."

And the Mail asks: "Why do they keep lying".

The FT suggests Hughes' resignation is a political coup for shadow home secretary David Davis, who is interviewed in the Telegraph.

On a side table in his Commons office sat two bottles of champagne, with cards attached. "They have been here since the Christmas party," he insisted.