Plans by Home Secretary Jack Straw to get tough on asylum seekers are fundamentally flawed, a Southend Tory MP claimed.

Sir Teddy Taylor MP for and Rochford and Southend East welcomed the theory behind Mr Straw's speech which suggested asylum seekers would have to claim asylum in the first safe country they reached.

But the Dublin Convention effectively declares Europe as one country - and would render Mr Straw's proposals impossible, he warned.

Sir Teddy said: "I'm delighted that at long last Mr Straw is taking the issue seriously - but he's got quite a problem.

"You can't send asylum seekers back to another country in Europe because, under the Convention, it is already one country."

Sir Teddy added: "We need to forget Jack Straw's proposals and concentrate on two things - providing centres where asylum seekers' applications can be processed, and processing them quickly."

Robin Rennie, regional manager for the East of England Consortium for Asylum Seekers, attended Mr Straw's speech in central London this week.

He has campaigned for asylum seekers'rights and recently voiced his concerns over the "degrading" voucher system.

Mr Rennie said: "You can't argue with the principle put forward by Jack Straw. His proposals address the 'human trade' problem and will also act as a deterrent. The current system isn't helping genuine asylum seekers and has perhaps lead to a lack of public sympathy."

He added: "Mr Straw's proposals are great in principle."

By Chris Weeks

Reporter's e-mail: chris.weeks@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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