The Liberal Party's home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: 'There should be no question of barring people because they criticise government policy. Democratic values must come first.'

Woolas, however, apart from expecting applicants to embrace the 'British way of life', has made clear that the proposals are also designed to control immigration by 'breaking the automatic link between coming to Britain temporarily to work or study and staying permanently'.

'We are going to introduce these proposals to make sure we can control migration, and the impact of migration,' he said. 'Under these proposals you will have a period of earning your citizenship.'

The proposals, under which migrants would be given extra points for moving to regions with skill and labour shortages, were preferable to an 'arbitrary cap' on migration, said Woolas.

They would 'bring better confidence to the public', in areas which were 'overburdened' by migrants.

'The new path to citizenship aims to create the right balance for Britain, allowing us to better manage and provide support for those on the journey to citizenship,' he said.

Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Birmingham-born stand-up comedian and columnist Shazia Mirza said the new system reminded her of the public school experience where points would be taken away for bad behaviour.

'I'm very British,' she wrote. 'I love sport and support Britain in everything - except cricket, when I support Pakistan. I have a friend who says she's British; she wears a hijab and a union-flag G-string. That's real integration.'

The government, she warned, was grooming migrants, and the whole population, for 'unquestioning compliance'.