The EU has launched a new initiative to crack down on asylum abuse.

From Wednesday all asylum claimants will have their fingerprints scanned and recorded.

This information will then be checked against the European Eurodac database to assess whether the applicant has already claimed asylum in another EU country.

The government hopes the scheme will speed up asylum decisions and help distinguish between genuine refugees and illegal entrants.

Eurodac forms part of an EU-wide agenda to cooperate on the growing number of asylum seekers arriving in Europe, as outlined in the Dublin Convention.

The UK government is worried that some refugees travel specifically to Britain to take advantage of more generous benefits than they might receive elsewhere in Europe.

Under the Dublin convention the government believes that by having to claim asylum in the first country they land in, refugees will be distinguished more easily from so-called "asylum shoppers".

Immigration minister Beverley Hughes said: "This is an important step forward. Co-operation with our European partners will help speed up the processing of asylum cases under the Dublin Convention by improving the detection of multiple asylum applications made within the EU or Norway and Iceland which is also included in the scheme.

"Eurodac will make it a lot easier for us to establish whether another participating state has responsibility for an asylum applicant under the present Dublin Convention and will support the implementation of its replacement Dublin II.

"This database, in time, will provide us with a valuable resource to tackle multiple asylum applications and deter asylum shopping."