Refugee crisis: prompting rethink?

The prime minister is ready for "radical" reform of the asylum system.

Downing Street said on Monday that the government would be prepared for a fundamental rethink of policy if the current reforms failed to tackle the immigration crisis.

The move came after Tony Blair hinted that Britain may press for a reworking of the European Convention on Human Rights and the 1951 UN convention on refugees.

Number 10 claimed the prime minister was "not afraid to think more radically, more fundamentally if necessary".

The intervention comes amid speculation that Blair is considering plans to "walk away" from the agreements.

A spokesman for the prime minister said the current international rules were out of date and reflected "an era before mass migration from eastern Europe and beyond".

"We have to stay within the convention, or walk away from the convention," added the spokesman.

Downing Street was forced to deny suggestions that the intervention amounted to a knee-jerk response to a Conservative-led attack on the government's immigration and asylum policy.

Quizzed on the issue last Monday, home secretary David Blunkett rejected calls for a rethink on the convention.

But this weekend Blair said he would be willing to consider more radical options.

The government is said to be concerned about article three of the convention - which prevents asylum seekers being returned to states where they may face torture.

"The key to this is to get the application numbers substantially down, because the problem with removing people is that, under the obligations we have, you cannot remove someone to a country where they might be subject to torture," said the prime minister on Sunday.

Number 10 was also forced to deny suggestions that the policy rethink had taken place without any consultation with the Home Office.

A spokesman said Blair's comments followed the usual "flow of communication" between senior ministers.

Speaking on Sunday, Iain Duncan Smith had called on the government to take extra powers to deport those asylum seekers who are criminals or pose a terrorist threat.

Ministers had been "weak" in dealing with unfounded asylum claims, he said.

Britain should continue to welcome those genuinely fleeing political persecution, the Conservative leader said, but "we are not seeing that at the moment".

And Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said walking away from the 1951 convention would be a "great mistake".