What the politicians have promised and what campaigners want

Labour

• More detention of asylum seekers whose claims have failed.
• Electronic tagging of those the government says are at risk of
  going missing.
• More removals of asylum seekers whose claims have failed.
• For the number of asylum seekers removed after their claims
  have failed to exceed the number of new claims that fail by the end
  of 2005.

Conservative

• 24-hour surveillance at ports.
• Withdrawal from the 1951 Geneva Convention.
• Take a fixed number of refugees from the United Nations Refugee
  Agency.
• Process asylum applications from outside Britain.
• Parliament to establish a fixed quota of the number of asylum
  seekers whom the UK will accept.
• Establishment of British border control police whose sole job
  it is to secure Britain’s borders.

Liberal Democrats

• Transfer responsibility for assessing asylum claims from the
  Home Office to a dedicated agency.
• Work within the European Union to develop common standards to
  ensure that all EU countries take their fair share of
  refugees.
• Allow asylum seekers to work.

Coalition of children’s charities including The
Children’s Society, NSPCC and NCH

• Put an end to detaining asylum seeker children.
• Remove the current reservation to the UN Convention on the
  Rights of the Child in relation to asylum seeker children. The
  government has entered into a wide-ranging reservation to this on
  the treatment of this group.
• Ensure that all homeless families, including refugees, will not
  be housed in temporary accommodation other than in a short-term
  emergency.
• Ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are appointed
  an independent guardian to support them.
• Repeal measures that can make asylum seeker parents whose
  claims have failed destitute and result in their children being
  taken into care.

The Refugee Council

• Urges all parties to tackle misconceptions about asylum seekers
  and highlight the contribution to the economy and public services
  made by refugees to Britain.