Davis: Demands

The Tories have renewed their calls for answers from ministers in the wake of Tony Blair's immigration summit.

As the government insisted the issue was under control, the opposition repeated its demands for answers from senior ministers.

Following weeks of bad headlines, the prime minister called together senior ministers on Tuesday in a bid to head off a public backlash over the Eastern European visa scam.

Speaking after the meeting, Blair called for a balanced public debate on immigration and asylum issues.

He said the government would engage with voters on the issue and make more information publicly available.

"There has got to be a sense of balance and perspective about this because what is absolutely clear about this is the vast majority of people come in and go out of the country perfectly lawfully and in a way that is beneficial for the country and its economy," Blair said.

Top level ministers including home secretary David Blunkett, trade secretary Patricia Hewitt and constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer had been called into Number 10 for the meeting.

Foreign secretary Jack Straw broke off from the Queen's state visit in Paris to attend the Number 10 meeting.

Tory attack

Meanwhile, the Conservatives hit out at ministers - demanding to know whether the immigration crisis was a result of "incompetence or intent".

"None of the questions posed to the prime minister and home secretary following recent events have been answered," said shadow home secretary David Davis.

"The only way to get real answers is for there to be an independent inquiry."

He added that the latest government promises of action were "a rehash of previous failed initiatives" and warned that "the public have lost confidence in this government's ability to clear up the mess in the immigration system".

But Liberal Democrat spokesman Mark Oaten gave his backing to the government's renewed defence of immigration.

"The prime minister's positive words on immigration are welcome but sadly long overdue," he said.

But Oaten said it was "disappointing that there will still be no independent inquiry into the working of the immigration department".

"Failure to do this means there will continue to be legitimate question marks over the whole system," he warned.

Voter anger

In his remarks the prime minister accepted that there was public anger about the issue of immigration.

"I understand why people get angry about the issue of immigration," he said.

"If they feel that they are playing by the rules and people are coming into our country illegally or improperly they get angry about it.

"Now where there is abuse we will deal with it, but what is important is not to get to the stage...of assuming that everybody who comes into this country does so illegally or improperly."

Public debate

Among the measures announced was a pledge to allow the independent National Audit Office to monitor the official immigration and asylum statistics to allay fears that the figures are being "fiddled".

The prime minister said that while there had been a problem with the asylum system, tough government measures had largely tackled them.

On immigration, he said that while fraud should be clamped down on, it was important to ensure that Britain remained open to those who benefit the UK.

But there was a renewed pledge to tackle suspected problems relating to short term student visas and "sham" marriages.

By opening the debate to the public, the prime minister said he hoped to help people understand the "full ramifications of this debate".

"There is and should be no tolerance of abuse, but we do have to have a sensible debate about people who come to our country for perfectly legitimate reasons and actually do things that are good for Britain and its economy," he said.

Home secretary David Blunkett added that "people who have the facts can make judgements for themselves".