Carole Walker: "Government says it won't back down from asylum overhaul"

The day after Home Secretary Jack Straw announced Britain would take up to 1,000 refugees a week from the Kosovo conflict, opponents of the bill are stepping up their protests.

The proposals would remove benefits from asylum-seekers, replacing them with food and accommodation vouchers.

Opposition to the bill from left-wing MPs has grown throughout the Kosovo conflict, alongside demands for Britain to take a greater share of ethnic Albanians leaving the province.

During Commons consideration of the bill, more than 20 demonstrators from Women Against Rape and Black Women's Rape Action Project were thrown out of a committee on Tuesday night after objecting to the proposals.

A growing number of Labour MPs are understood to have serious reservations about the bill.

Neil Gerrard, who chairs the all-party committee on refugees, has called for a wholesale rethink in light of the Kosovo crisis.

Labour MP Neil Gerrard: Time to reconsider asylum plans

Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown described the bill as a "very serious blot on the Labour administration" based on Tory plans.

"This is a piece of legislation based on scaremongering and for a Labour administration to pick that up and try to force it through is simply scandalous."

But Prime Minister Tony Blair defended the proposals on Wednesday at an election news conference.

"It is the right thing to do," he said, adding that genuine asylum seekers would gain the right to stay in Britain more quickly after the bill became law.

"Anyone who's studied this knows the present system isn't working."

Refugees must return - Cook

The demands come as UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook dismissed talk of a pause in the offensive against Serbia.

For Nato's bombing to stop, the Serbian president would have to demonstrate he was prepared to allow refugees to return in safety, Mr Cook said.

Robin Cook: "The bombing will continue"

"President Milosevic could end the bombing tomorrow if he was to accept what is our bottom line - and that is the refugees must return to Kosovo.

"And for that to be credible and possible there must be an international military presence so they can do so in security and safety

"We cannot compromise on that objective because if we were to do so it would betray the refugees and reward Milosevic for his brutality and butchery."

Refugees must be allowed to return to Kosovo before bombing ends, the UK foreign secretary says

The foreign secretary insisted the allied bombing campaign was working and would force President Milosevic to comply.

"We never said it was going to work overnight. This is a real, serious military campaign - it does take determination to see it through."

The Kosovo Albanians would go home, he promised. But Nato would not be lulled into stopping its campaign by false offers.

"They are going to go back, they are going to rebuild their homes, with our help and with our protection," Mr Cooks said.

Carole Walker: "Detailed debates on the bill are continuing"

"The point at which you have a pause in the bombing is the one in which we can examine the basis of an agreement.