The home secretary has defended the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

David Blunkett has admitted that the policy is unpopular in local areas but insisted that the move is necessary for security reasons.

Press reports indicate that 20 accommodation companies have been commissioned by the Home Office to find buildings suitable for use as hostels to house refugees.

Asylum seekers will be detained for around 10 days while being processed on arrival.

In a bid to defuse a row over a hotel to be used in Kent, Blunkett linked the screening procedure to concerns over the alleged terror threat posed by asylum seekers.

"Nobody wants induction centres but we can't screen people unless we have them, then we'll make people report," he told the BBC.

"We've got a new ID card for asylum entrants in to the country which we never had before... and we have automatic electronic fingerprinting which we've never had before."

And he attacked the "wilder myths" linking refugees with terrorism.

"It is important to be straight about some of the wilder myths which surround terrorism and asylum seekers, in particular. The majority of asylum seekers - whether legitimate or not - have nothing to do with terrorism," Blunkett said.

Bill Morris has appealed to ministers to speak out against the linkage of asylum seekers to the threat of terrorism.

In an interview with GMTV's Sunday Programme, the general secretary of the TGWU argued that silence gave the impression that the government condoned claims linking refugees to terrorism.

"It seems to me that the government has got to come out very strongly, because the government's silence is being interpreted as a sort of consent to attack asylum seekers," he said.

"By silence they are encouraging people to believe that every asylum seeker represents a terrorist threat and it does not."

His comments follow the fatal stabbing of DC Steven Oake during an anti-terrorist raid in Greater Manchester.

All three men arrested during the operation were found to be asylum seekers.

"We need some joined up policy here, security of the nation comes first, asylum seekers in terms of our International obligation has got to be protected but it's got to be a moral and political lead from government and that's what's missing at the moment," argued Morris.

The induction centre plans, which do not legally require local consultation, have sparked anger in Sittingbourne, where the Coniston Hotel has already been identified to provide 111 places.

Labour's Derek Wyatt argued that it was "a disgrace" that his constituents had not been consulted on the plans.

But immigration minister Beverley Hughes argued that the plan had been "outlined" in October 2001.

"The Coniston Hotel would be one of a number of hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers on a temporary basis in the London area before they are moved on to accommodation centres or dispersed outside the south east," she said.

"The government recognises areas such as Kent already play a large part in supporting asylum seekers and one of the main aims of induction centres is to make sure people can be dispersed away from the south east as quickly as possible."