British ministers have re acted angrily to a Council of Europe report accusing them of contributing to "an increasingly intolerant" attitude towards asylum-seekers.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) expressed concern at "the general negative climate concerning refugees in the United Kingdom". And it blamed the media for "xenophobic and intolerant coverage of the issue" and the creation of such a climate by "consistent inflammatory attacks" on asylum-seekers and migrants in some local and national newspapers.
However, the council's racism watchdog said government could not escape its share of the blame, declaring: "The frequent changes in immigration and asylum policies designed to deter these categories of persons from coming to the UK have played a fundamental role. The tone of public debate on issues of asylum and immigration generally by such changes in recent years has also had a central role in this respect."
Extending its fire across the wider political spectrum, the ECRI report noted that "regrettably many politicians have contributed to, or at least not adequately prevented, public debate taking on an increasingly intolerant line with at times racist and xenophobic overtones".
The Home Office Minister, Mrs Barbara Roche, said the report contained four "very serious factual inaccuracies" and gave "a misleading impression" of the British government's asylum policy.
This is the second hard-hitting attack on the conduct of Britain's public debate on this issue in as many months. The EU's racism and xenophobia monitoring centre last month found that, of the 15 member-states, Britain was the most hostile to political refugees.
Yesterday's report, based on field work conducted in May and June last year, concluded that racism against asylum-seekers and refugees was "particularly acute" in Britain.
The report said public statements had tended to depict asylum-seekers and economic migrants as a threat to security, economic stability and social peace. However, it said it was "unacceptable for politicians to direct the general public's feelings of insecurity on one specific group of persons, irrespective of whether these persons have a valid claim to remain in the country or not".
Publication of the report yesterday took the shine off the coming into force of the Race Relations Act extending the effect of race laws to the police and other public bodies. The ECRI said the adoption of "increasingly restrictive measures" and the tone of the public debate ran counter to the British government's attempts elsewhere to improve race relations.
Specifically, the report criticised the voucher system replacing the payment of direct benefits to asylum-seekers as "degrading and stigmatising". And it pointed to racist chants at football grounds, discrimination in the field of employment, and lingering racism among immigration officers.
Leading the government's counter-attack, Mrs Roche insisted the report contained at least four "very serious inaccuracies." The Minister rejected claims that "many" asylum-seekers were held in prisons, that benefits for asylum-seekers were too low, and that they were "forced to queue for food parcels".
On the specific charge of racism among members of the immigration service, Mrs Roche told the BBC that of 44 complaints made against officials only one had been upheld.
Meanwhile, the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, has said fewer illegal immigrants are arriving in Britain because of increased levels of cross-channel security.