AS Labour has learned to its cost, putting targets on policies can come back to haunt you.

Likewise, the Conservative leader may live to regret playing the numbers game with immigration.

Michael Howard correctly identifies refugees and asylum seekers as an issue of public concern, and one that is bound to be raised in the general election campaign.

His proposals, however, fail to reflect the sensitivity of the issue. Instead, they risk exaggerating the true situation, merely confirming the ill-judged prejudices that all asylum seekers are bogus, and all immigrants illegal.

His plan to withdraw from the 1951 UN convention on refugees must be resisted.

The convention obliges states to shelter those with a well-founded fear of persecution and forbids sending back asylum seekers to countries where they might face further harm. Is Mr Howard suggesting Britain, the cradle of democracy, should return people from whence they came to face certain persecution and harm?

There is a need to tighten regulations and ensure there is a balance in our immigration policy. Abuse of the system must not be tolerated.

But setting arbitrary annual quotas is not the answer to the current problem.

Rejecting an application from a refugee because he or she fails to meet the criteria is acceptable. Refusing the application simply because he or she is on the run from persecution at the wrong time of year is not.