PUBLIC confidence in the immigration system is being undermined by the "vexatious" use of appeals and legal challenges to asylum rulings, a Government minister has warned.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, who has gained a reputation for outspoken remarks since his appointment last month, said he stood by a claim in an interview with The Guardian that some lawyers and NGOs were 'playing the system to the nth degree'.

"Some lawyers have raised false hopes and played the legal system to the disadvantage of having fair decisions being taken on behalf of asylum seekers," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

"The difficulty is that if the system is subject to what I believe, on occasion, to be the vexatious use of appeals and judicial review, then it does inevitably cause confusion, it diverts resources and, more importantly, it undermines confidence in the minds of the public.

"That is what I am appealing to the legal profession to help me with - to build confidence in the system amongst the public."

Mr Woolas, however, stressed that his comments referred to only some immigration lawyers - "not even a significant minority".

In his Guardian interview, he had complained that there was an "industry" in challenging asylum rulings, which was making it increasingly difficult to offer asylum to genuine refugees.

He recounted the case of one asylum seeker who came to his constituency office in Oldham.

"One lady showed me the scars on her thighs from where the soldiers had raped her, so I know," he told the paper, "but I cannot take a decision on that lady's behalf if I am fogged by cases that are misusing the law."