CHESHAM'S former mayor is blaming the Conservative party's immigration policy for ruining his chances of gaining a county council seat in the May elections.

Cllr Mohammed Bhatti told the Free Press that he was "disappointed" not to have been chosen to represent the Chesham East division on the county council and blamed the "negative" response to immigration controls.

Despite gaining 1,632 votes Cllr Bhatti was defeated by Cllr Patricia Lindsley (Lib Dem) who polled 2003 votes and a majority of 371.

During his last mayoral function, at the annual town meeting, Cllr Bhatti blamed his loss on Conservative proposals to limit annual immigration, which he said were described in particularly "inflammatory language" by the party and the media.

Cllr Bhatti said: "I think the Conservative's immigration policy put a lot of people off who would otherwise have voted for me.

"When I was talking to Muslim people in Chesham they didn't agree with Mr Howard.

"They thought it would bring a lot of trouble for people who lived in mixed race communities and those people who came from different religious backgrounds.

"They thought it would make everyone feel threatened."

Buckingham MP John Bercow (Cons) described Mr Howard's constant reiteration of its immigration policies as at best "obsessive" and at worst "repellent".

In a column for The Independent newspaper Mr Bercow said: "We have focused far too much on immigration, even though it is nowhere near top of voters' priorities."

But a Conservative Party spokesman has denied the claim that certain ethnic communities have reacted negatively to their policy.

He said: "Mainstream politicians have a duty to talk about the things that matter to people. We found that our policy, to ensure immigration was properly managed and controlled, was popular with people of all ethnic backgrounds."