BRITAIN: British Conservative leader Mr Michael Howard was yesterday accused of playing a "dangerous game" after launching proposals to screen immigrants for diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and a prominent union leader all criticised the Tory proposals, which Mr Howard insisted were about ensuring that immigration does not drain NHS resources.
Under the Conservatives' framework, people testing positive for TB would be denied visas. Other conditions, such as HIV, would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
But all immigrants wanting to stay permanently would have to show they would not be "a drain" on the NHS. Asylum-seekers would be excluded from the proposal, on the grounds that people genuinely fleeing persecution should not be denied refuge simply because of ill-health.
Mr Howard said: "Our aims are simple - to minimise the public health risks of diseases such as TB, to ensure British taxpayers get value for money and to protect access to the NHS.
"You protect the NHS by stopping some people coming in - some people who would impose burdens on the NHS."
Mr Howard said Government figures show TB has increased 25 per cent over the past 10 years and nearly two-thirds of sufferers were born abroad.
"I don't think anyone would deny the problem we now have with TB is very significantly caused by people who come from abroad," he told the BBC.
But Mr Kevin Curran, leader of the GMB union, said: "The Tories are trying to make an insidious link between immigrants and disease. That is the sort of outrageous message I would expect to hear from the BNP, (British National Party), not a supposedly mainstream party.
"It's time to accept our public services and economy will rely on migrant labour in years to come, and I hope British voters will not be swayed by the increasingly desperate politics of Michael Howard's tiny-minded Tories."
Mr Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "Michael Howard knows perfectly well what bigger game he is playing, and history proves it is a very dangerous one. Decent people amongst the Conservative leadership must be feeling very queasy at the direction the Conservative campaign is taking."
Labour's general election co-ordinator, Mr Alan Milburn, said: "Michael Howard's Conservatives are becoming increasingly desperate to talk about anything but the economy and their record in government.