MPs today called for an urgent review of the law governing asylum seekers after it was revealed that nearly 15 per cent of those placed in the area had vanished.

Official figures released by Blackburn with Darwen Council show that 14 of the 99 asylum seekers placed through the government scheme in the past 18 months have disappeared -- while the Home Office confirmed that they have lost track of others housed in neighbouring Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

A Home Office spokesman said that there was a special Enforcement Directorate to track down missing asylum seekers but he had no figures for how many staff were employed in that function or how much it cost. He said the current target was to remove 30,000 failed asylum seekers in 2002.

But Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "There is obviously still a need to sort out the asylum mess.

"I know that many of the so-called asylum seekers sent to my own town of Darwen are not asylum seekers but economic migrants.

"We should recognise them as such because they do not seek state hand-outs and accommodation.

"I feel a lot of them will just simply disappear. It's a shambles and the government needs to get a grip on it. "In addition I understand that landlords get between £1,000 and £2,000 in grants to do up houses containing asylum seekers. In some streets landlords have several properties, some being done up for asylum seekers and some not. This is causing great resentment and bitterness with the other tenants.

"I shall be speaking to the council and to the Home Office about this."

Today, her call was backed by Burnley MP Peter Pike who said his constituency and neighbouring Pendle could not put a figure on how many asylum seekers had vanished.

He said this was because the Home Office and the National Asylum Support Service deal with private landlords and not the council in the area.

Mr Pike said: "I think the system needs to be reviewed. "Some of the things I hear are very worrying. I think allowing asylum seekers to work would be a very good idea. Many do want to work and play a part in the community, but can't."

Blackburn with Darwen Council signed a contract with the Home Office to house asylum seekers in November 2000.

Under current procedures, they live in Blackburn with Darwen while their asylum applications are considered by central Government.

If granted, they receive support to help they rebuild their lives. If they are refused, they are sent back to their home country. But of the 99 sent to Blackburn with Darwen, 14 disappeared before a decision on their fate was taken.

Councillors today claimed their "disappearance" was proof the system does not work -- and warned missing asylum seekers could become easy prey for bosses offering cheap wages.

A spokesman for Burnley Council said: "We receive notification when they arrive but do not know when they leave. "We know of cases of people disappearing but there is nothing we can do about it.

"They certainly lose access to their vouchers because they are sent to their home address." Under the agreement, they live off food vouchers which are sent to a registered address. If they disappear, they do not receive support.

Blackburn with Darwen Council shadow portfolio holder Edward Harrison said: "This is proof the asylum system doesn't work.

"Why would these people run off if they had a genuine case for asylum?

"These people are at risk of dropping out of society altogether and living in squalor. They will have to earn money other ways and that is very worrying."

Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: "I will discuss this with the council. I need to see the details. If appropriate I will raise the issue with Home Secretary David Blunkett." A spokesman for the Home Office added: "They do sometimes move on without telling us and we do have teams working around the clock to find them because we need to know where they are, for their own safety if nothing else." The Home Office spokesman also said they had no figure for the proportion of asylum seekers nationally who "disappeared."

He said: "It's difficult to estimate because quite often people who leave the address which they are registered gravitate to London or other areas where they have family, friends or communities.

"Then they turn up again because they register with police or authorities as they still have an outstanding asylum claim. I don't think we could produce any figures that were meaningful."