FORMER Merseyside probation officer Beverley Hughes quit her post as immigration minister yesterday after it emerged she was alerted to an alleged visa "scam" by officials more than a year ago.

Mrs Hughes, whose family is from Ellesmere Port, was forced to resign after her answers to questions concerning immigrants were shown to be "inconsistent".

The Liverpool University-educated politician's position became shakry when Steve Moxon, a member of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, highlighted concerns about the way applications from eastern Europe were being fast-tracked.

Mr Moxon, who is now part of a disciplinary investigation, alleged this was being done by officials in Romania and Bulgaria to prevent a log jam after the May 1 accession date when the countries involved would become EU members.

An inquiry earlier this month appeared to have cleared Ms Hughes of the allegation of manipulating immigration figures, causing her to blame middle-ranking managers for an "excess of zeal".

However, the former minister's problems began when, on BBC2s Newsnight, she denied any knowledge of the claims before they came to light in a newspaper.

This was quickly disproven when it emerged her colleague, Bob Ainsworth, had written to her drawing her attention to the practice more than a year ago.

At 8.15am yesterday Tony Blair accepted her resignation. However, in the Commons, she told MPs: "I have tried to answer all questions and allegations I can and am confident that I have acted properly.

"However, unwittingly I may have given a misleading impression. I did not intentionally mislead anyone but cannot in conscience serve as immigration minister."

She added: "I'm proud of what we've done in turning around the asylum system which has had huge problems over the years."

Of her discovery that she had misled with her Monday claims, Mrs Hughes added: "On Tuesday, in order to prepare for the next phase of the Sutton inquiry, I asked for all the relevant files and paperwork to be reviewed in order to ensure that everything is correctly disclosed.

"During this process, it was discovered that the Member for Coventry North East [Mr Ainsworth] had, in fact, written to me a year ago drawing my attention to pro forma business plans submitted by UK solicitors in Romanian and Bulgarian cases.

"I did, in fact, take action at that time on advice from officials to address these concerns."

Mrs Hughes studied at Manchester before taking her MSC in Liverpool where she then started as a probation officer.

Following this, she became a lecturer in social policy in Manchester and was elected MP for Stretford and Urmston in 1997. The mother-of-three, a long time advocate of women's and pensioners' rights, took on responsibility for asylum and immigration in the 2002 reshuffle.

Last month, she stripped the Landmark firm of the contract to house 400 asylum-seekers, mainly in towerblock flats in Everton, because they were living in sub-standard accommodation.

Following her resignation, it was announced that Des Browne, 52, would replace Mrs Hughes and he starts work today. Riverside MP Louise Ellman said of Mrs Hughes: "She was a competent minister and good for Liverpool."

* LIVERPOOL Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy has been given a new post in the mini government shake-up. She has been appointed minister of state for work in the Department of Work and Pensions and will be replacing Des Browne.

Ms Kennedy, 45, had been minister of state at the Northern Ireland office, with responsibility for security, policing and prisons, since June, 2001.