Britain's top judge Wednesday launched a strong attack on key reforms by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, warning that plans to limit asylum seekers' rights of appeal were against the rule of law.

Lord Chief Justice Harry Woolf said that changes which would stop people going to the higher courts to challenge a decision to deny them asylum would be "fundamentally in conflict with the rule of law".

The comments were unusually outspoken in a country where the judiciary usually steers clear of public pronouncements on political controversies.

Woolf, the most senior judge in England and Wales, insisted that plans to bar the courts from reviewing asylum cases would be a "blot on the reputation of the government".

In a speech at Cambridge University in central England, he said: "Immigration and asylum involve basic human rights.

"What areas of government decision making would be next to be removed from the scrutiny of the courts? What is the use of courts if you cannot access them?"

Britain is the European destination of choice for asylum seekers and Blair's government has been under pressure to deal with the issue, which is a political hot potato.

Parts of Britain's tabloid press have waged a long campaign against so-called foreign "asylum cheats", claiming that many are unfairly milking welfare benefit payments here.

The government announced last week that the number of immigrants claiming political asylum in Britain dropped by more than 40 percent last year, crediting tougher border controls and other restrictions for the decline.

Responding to Woolf's claims, a spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which is in effect Britain's justice ministry, said that changes to the asylum appeals system should reduce the time it took to decide cases.