Tory leader Michael Howard has laid into the Labour Party over its handling of the immigration situation.

He said ministers "sat on their hands and did nothing" while civil servants expressed their concerns over lax checks and visa fraud.

He called the government policy "a complete shambles".

"Immigration must be controlled, and Labour have have lost control of our borders", he told the Welsh Conservative Conference in Llandudno.

"It has been a scandal", he said. "A scandal that those who finally blew the whistle have been suspended while the minister who was responsible clung desperately to office, before finally being forced to resign.

"A chaotic immigration policy helps no one. It doesn't help those who come here illegally, who fall prey to criminal gangs. It doesn't help those who use the proper channels, who are shoved to the back of the queue. And it doesn't help the people who live here because of the pressure it puts on our public services."

He pledged that the Tory Party would get to grips with the asylum "chaos", announcing that, "no one will be able to come here and claim asylum. They will have to apply at one of our centres abroad, where they will be dealt with quickly, fairly and humanely".

"We will take a quota of genuine refugees - probably more genuine refugees than we take now. But we will no longer be obliged to support the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who are not genuine refugees," he added.

The Tory leader has been accused of hypocrisy as his parents emigrated to the UK from Romania, one of the countries at the centre of the visa scam.

He has already been attacked for his "opportunism" on the issue, and came under fire for a visit to Burnley, where despite his description of the locally popular BNP as "thugs in suits", he was charged with exploiting inflamed feelings in the area.

The Tory leader also spoke out on waste in public services, security and Europe.