Move to cut back asylum legal costs

Tough curbs on the ballooning cost of legal aid for asylum seekers will be unveiled this week.

Home Secretary David Blunkett aims to cap bills run up by claimants whose cases are felt to be unlikely to succeed.

Immigration lawyers will be forced to justify any spending which goes above the new limit in front of a commission of experts.

The clampdown follows a leap in the cost to the taxpayer - soaring in the past two years alone from £83million to £174million.

Ministers say lawyers take on weak cases knowing the public purse will meet the costs. In future, high spending will only be allowed in "genuine and complex cases" with "a real prospect of success".

In a second phase to the curbs, the Government plans to scrap legal aid altogether for initial claims. Home Office officials say some lawyers send poor-quality aides to sit in on immigration interviews, incurring large bills.

However, campaigners said the reforms would deny justice to people fleeing for their lives.