Bermuda may become a temporary home to hundreds of refugees seeking entry into Britain - if that country's Conservative Party takes power again, The Guardian newspaper reported.

The party's plans for governing include an overhaul of the country's asylum system which would have all asylum seekers deported to a "far offshore processing" Island, according to Britain's Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin.

Mr. Letwin was speaking at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Blackpool this week.

Places hundreds of miles away from Britain would be used as processing centres to discourage dishonest asylum applications, he said.

"There will be no applications in Britain," he is reported to have told the conference. Refugee advocates have rubbished the plan as inhumane.

Mr. Letwin compared the plan to that practised by Australia which sends its asylum seekers to islands like Nauru, but did not specify the Island to be used as a processing centre.

The Australian experience had shown that economic migrants are discouraged at the prospect of being sent thousands of miles away for processing, he said.

Home Secretary David Blunkett had earlier this year proposed "transit processing centres" in Eastern European countries, but had little success in persuading the countries involved to provide the facilities, according to a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

"It is likely they (Conservatives) would have to fall back on the last remaining elements of the British Empire - the overseas territories - where ministers still have some influence over their foreign and defence policies," the Guardian noted.

"This could leave a Tory government trying to persuade places like Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos, Bermuda and even St. Helena."