Michael Howard has invited ethnic minority voters who share Conservative values to join his party.

As part of his effort to broaden the Tories' appeal beyond their traditional middle England stronghold, Howard appealed to groups who are generally more inclined to vote Labour.

Speaking to ethnic minority communities in Batley, West Yorkshire on Friday Howard said the Labour Party had taken them for granted and that it was time to reconsider traditional party loyalties.

In the wake of the invasion of the Iraq many Muslim voters in particular have been deserting Labour but by-election results in Birmingham Hodge Hill and Leicester South suggest the Lib Dems are picking up more ethnic minority votes than the Tories.

Howard said: "I say to all those people from ethnic minorities who feel Mr Blair takes their votes for granted – come and join us.  We share the same values – pride in Britain, hard work, the importance of family, a belief in fair play.

"Together we can build a better Britain – a Britain where everyone, whatever the colour of their skin, whatever their religion, can make the most of their talents. 

"At the next general election, we will field more candidates from our ethnic communities than ever before. Our candidates have all succeeded on merit – because of their hard work and their dedication.

Playing on his on immigrant roots he said: "My parents always used to say it doesn't matter what you do when you grow up, as long as you do it to the best of your ability.  That sums up my whole approach. 

"All of us are put on this earth to make the most of whatever talents and abilities we have – everyone deserves the opportunity to fulfil their potential, to make the best of our lives."

Red tape

In the same speech Howard also responded to comments made by Sir John Stevens regarding the amount of bureaucracy currently facing police officers.

He said: "Conservatives will take action to cut crime so that it's criminals – not the law-abiding – who live in fear. 

"Paperwork, political correctness and targets are crippling our police. There are too many centrally imposed targets.

"Ministers have set five strategic policing priorities, 13 headline targets, 36 component targets. And the police are accountable for their performance to five different agencies.

"Conservatives will give the police one simple objective - to prevent crime and disorder. It's common sense.

"And we will cut back on the paperwork that keeps them chained to their desks. I want the police out on our streets intervening, confronting and challenging every kind of crime and disorder - not filling in forms. I want zero tolerance policing.

"We will scrap the politically correct form the police have to fill in every time they stop someone. Not stop and search. Just stop.  We will recruit 40,000 more police officers."

But despite Howard’s efforts a new poll has suggested the Tories have fallen behind the level of support they received at the last general election in 2001.

According to the YouGov survey for the Telegraph the party is now on 32 per cent, three points behind Labour, compared to 33 per cent in 2001.

It is the third poll in recent weeks that has made for grim reading for the Tories.