A row has erupted after a Liberal Democrat peer accused a Tory hopeful of scaremongering over immigration.

In the latest Baildon Matters newsletter, right, David Herdson, the Conservative candidate in the next local elections, criticises the Lib Dems' "open door immigration policy", which he says will increase the need for homes and put pressure on local services.

The newsletter links proposals for 900 new homes in the area with Lib Dem proposals on an amnesty to illegal immigrants who have been in the country for ten years.

It reads: "Were the Lib Dems' immigration policy to be adopted, the population would increase faster, pushing Baildon's figure up to more than a thousand (homes)."

Lord Wallace of Saltaire, the deputy Lib Dem leader in the House of Lords, said he was "shocked" by the newsletter.

He said: "It looks like a BNP leaflet and it plays on fears of immigration in the BNP style. It smears the Liberal Democrats for plans to expand house-building, when this is the responsibility of the Conservative-led planning authority."

Mr Herdson said: "I make it clear in the leaflet that I believe that a sensible level of immigration is good for the country. Provided that it brings in people who contribute ... legal immigration adds greatly to local communities."

Bradford Councillor Roger L'Amie (Con, Baildon) also defended the leaflet: "It talks at length about how the figures have been arrived at. It is just an argument about how Liberal national policy can impact locally."