The Shadow home secretary, Ms Ann Widdecombe, yesterday said she had "no shame" about Conservative proposals to house asylum seekers in detention centres.
The plans started controversy when outlined in the Tory manifesto and the black Conservative peer, Lord Taylor of Warwick, said they would take away people's liberty.
"I don't have any shame about it," Ms Widdecombe told ITV's Dimbleby programme. "I think it is a necessity that every new applicant who claims asylum should be housed in secure reception centres along the Dutch model - they are very humane centres - while we determine their cases.
"We have all seen women and children out on the streets begging. I say it is a much more humane system to have them in secure reception centres to assess their cases."
The Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw told the programme: "I think everybody regards it is completely incredible, Ann's undertaking, as well as inhumane, to lock up asylum seekers."
