Tony Blair uses an article in the Times today to admit "genuine concerns" about the asylum system.

The prime minister reveals that he is setting a new target to reduce the numbers of failed asylum applicants who are still in Britain.

"We have to increase efforts to remove those who remain in this country when their applications have failed," he says.

He adds that over the next seven months the government will bring on-stream almost 1,000 extra immigration detention centres, tripling the figure from 1997.