Tories and Lib Dems at odds over immigration

BRITAIN’S coalition government descended into a war of words over immigration policy yesterday, with the junior Liberal Democrats attacking Tory Prime Minister David Cameron’s hardline rhetoric.

Coalition tensions have been simmering ahead of council elections in which both parties are expected to suffer, and a Lib Dem-sponsored — and Conservative- opposed — referendum on the electoral system which could spark a deeper rift.

Cameron, in a speech likely to appeal to core Conservative voters, called for “good immigration, not mass immigration” and argued previous policies had nurtured extremism by creating “discomfort and disjointedness” in neighbourhoods.