It consists of 57,000 hectares of land in 25 counties – more than half of it in Devon. For me to comment on the sums of money is not relevant on this occasion.” He said the Prince funded his staff, official duties and charitable work through his Duchy income, praising him as “the biggest multi-purpose charitable institution in the country”.Mr Williams maintained his attack, describing the Prince’s accommodation at Clarence House as “the best housing benefit scheme in the world”.Gerry Steinberg, the Labour MP for Durham, criticised officials for borrowing from their capital accounts He said: “This looks very much like jiggery-pokery. He asked Mr Ross: “Don’t you think £11.9m is getting a bit excessive?”But Mr Ross said: “It is for me to provide a proper income from well-managed estates. Some £4.4m goes on tax and on personal expenditure.MPs criticised the scale of the Prince of Wales’s income, which averages £6m a year and has grown by 300 per cent over the past decade. Alan Williams, the Labour MP for Swansea, said the Prince’s annual payments were the equivalent of 450 people on average earnings.

He said: “The Duchy of Cornwall income is private to the Prince of Wales. Any business or estate that’s private should be able to choose its own audit.”Prince Charles and his sons receive no allowance from the Civil List, instead drawing an income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The Duchy is tax-exempt but the Prince pays income tax voluntarily He spends £5.9m on official and charitable work. If I looked at the books I would be able to report about the aspects that I think should be brought to attention.”But Bertie Ross, the secretary of the Duchy of Cornwall, rejected the demand. The party proposes reform of work permits to introduce a limited “green card” system with the number of workers allowed in each year.Work permits would be available to unskilled as well as skilled workers but would have strict time limits, with workers required to leave Britain when their permits expire.They propose ending the ban on asylum-seekers working in Britain while their applications are processed and oppose measures to withdraw benefits from failed asylum-seekers.The party promises a thorough overhaul of the asylum system to improve initial decisions and cut the huge number of appeals made by people refused leave to remain in Britain.. Britain’s public spending watchdog demanded yesterday that the Royal Family open the books of the estates which earn them millions of pounds each year.

Their applications will be considered in offshore processing centres. They will pull Britain out of the UN refugee convention, which requires countries to consider applications on merit, rather than on need. They promise 24-hour security at ports to deter illegal immigration.Where do the Liberal Democrats stand?They agree there is a need for annual limits on economic migrants. Although the new Home Secretary spoke up for the merits of economic migration yesterday, the five-year plan marked a change of emphasis, with low-skill migrants effectively warned they would have little chance of settling permanently in the UK.How does Labour’s approach to economic migration compare with the Tory position?The Tories want to organise an Australian-style system, where points are awarded for work experience, academic qualifications and languages. Under this Government’s stewardship, huge backlogs of claims have developed, asylum applications hit a record 111,000 (including dependants) in 2002 and an ambitious target for removals was abandoned.But the Government has made progress over the past three years; most initial decisions on asylum claims are now made within two months and the number of applications has halved.What do the Tories propose as an alternative?They will set annual quotas for the number of asylum-seekers who will be accepted. They would set an annual quota linked to the points system.Labour also proposes a points system, which would replace the current complex system of work permits, to judge the merits of applicants. There will be tougher restrictions on bringing in relatives.Employers caught using illegal workers will face a £2,000 fixed-penalty fine for each case.Asylum-seekers will lose the right to stay permanently, instead being granted temporary leave to remain for up to five years.

But Labour attempts to neutralise it have been hampered by the resignations of Beverley Hughes as Immigration Minister and David Blunkett as Home Secretary, both partly because of the much-criticised immigration system.Cabinet ministers were warned last week that immigration and asylum was the one area in which Labour lagged behind the Tories.Is it true that the Tories have grasped the initiative on the subject?It was undoubtedly canny politics for the Conservatives to release their plans before Labour issued its strategy. But ministers insist they have been working on their plan since April, when Tony Blair ordered a root-and-branch review of the immigration system after the resignation of Ms Hughes.Will this make a difference in the next general election?The received wisdom is that “pocket book” issues – the economy, interest rates, inflation – and the state of public services hold the key to election victory. There will be more detentions of asylum-seekers and swifter returns of those who are rejected.Why has this become an issue now?It has been on the agenda for the past five years with public concern over border controls heightened by pictures of asylum-seekers trying to jump on cross-channel trains and lorries.William Hague attempted to make political capital out of the issue in the 2001 election. However, the parties are picking up some anecdotal evidence that voters could be influenced by immigration; a poll last month found 66 per cent of voters approved of Tory plans to set an annual limit.Voters’ hostility to immigration is hardening, with the British social attitudes survey discovering three-quarters now want a cut in the numbers allowed in.By how much is the British population growing?In 2003 net migration, the difference between people arriving and those leaving, was 151,000. What are the key features of the Government’s five-year strategy on immigration and asylum? A points system will be developed to favour the applications of highly skilled immigrants to work in Britain. We might see some progress but, for every step forward, there are two steps back and I am very disappointed someone like Michael Howard is not more sensitive to the true make-up of the country. I would say racism is something we have to be constantly vigilant about.