UK News 15-04-2005 Labour Policy Caused Policeman`s Death who: Michael Howard what: Says murdered Detective Constable Stephen Oake would be alive today if Labour asylum policy had worked where: LONDON when: Thursday snippet: "The election debate over asylum intensified yesterday," says Friday`s Independent, "as ministers sought the deportation of six of the eight men cleared this week of involvement in a ricin terror plot. The men, mostly failed asylum-seekers from Algeria, were alleged to have been involved in the plot by Kamel Bourgass, who was jailed for planning a poison attack and killing Detective Constable Stephen Oake." The budding terrorists planned to contaminate supermarket toothpaste and mouthwash with so-called "rotting meat poison" or botulinum, says The Mirror, "as well as smearing it on door handles and buildings". Michael Howard blamed Tony Blair`s immigration policy for the murder of the Special Branch officer, who was stabbed to death two years after his killer`s asylum application had been rejected. "The Tory leader told a press conference that Bourgass - who was jailed for 17 years for plotting poison attacks on top of a life sentence he is already serving for the Oakes murder - would not have been in Britain if Tony Blair had delivered on promises he made eight years ago," reports The Guardian. "Mr Howard said the prime minister had failed to deliver the `firm but fair` immigration policies he had promised before being elected in 1997, and that the Bourgass case underlined the "chaos" and `systematic failures` of the government`s asylum policy." Alan Milburn, Labour`s election co-ordinator, apologised for the death of Det Con Oake but claimed Labour`s identity card plans would "ensure that sort of thing does not happen again", emphasising that the Tories are opposed ID cards and ignoring the obvious retort that Mr Howard would probably not have let the likes of Bourgass into the country in the first place. "No matter that [Bourgass`s] application for asylum was turned down twice," says Friday`s Daily Mail leader. "He just stayed on, untroubled by the authorities. He wasn`t even apprehended when caught shoplifting, since immigration officials showed no interest in his case. Now he is jailed for life at the public`s expense, while eight suspects associated with him - six of whom were also seeking `asylum` - can stay on indefinitely, having been cleared of the murder plot, since it is claimed they might be tortured if they are deported to Algeria." [... more]

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