THE Home Secretary has been accused of “talking claptrap” on the issue of asylum seekers and immigration at the Conservative Party Conference.

Theresa May announced a major overhaul of the asylum system in the UK in a bid to reduce the numbers claiming asylum while being able to take the “most vulnerable” refugees from war-torn countries.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said Mrs May’s comments — including the assertion that too much immigration makes it “impossible to build a cohesive society” — were regrettable.

She said the Home Secretary, who many believe will be a contender to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister before the next General Election, was simply “playing to the gallery”.

She said: “I think this was clearly a pitch for the leadership, which is a beauty contest between herself, George Osborne and Boris Johnson.

“But for her to come out with this kind of claptrap is a bit unusual as she is normally someone who talks fairly sensible — this was a bit out of character.”

Ms Qureshi believes that such arguments along with the agendas of the mainstream press in the country have led to a lot of “myths” surrounding the areas of immigration and asylum in the country.

She said: “I think the laws on asylum are actually pretty tough already and you really have to prove that you are being persecuted — a lot of claims are turned down.

“But the public perception is not in keeping with the reality and Theresa May has regrettably played into that narrative that people are being shepherded into believing — that is regrettable.”

In her speech, Mrs May said the current asylum process in Britain rewards the "wealthiest, the luckiest and the strongest" by only granting asylum to those who can make it to the UK and that it is abused by people who are not at risk in their home nations or have already travelled through safe countries.

She said: "What I'm proposing is a deal — the fewer people there are who wrongly claim asylum in Britain, the more generous we can be in helping the most vulnerable people in the world's most dangerous places.”