FORMER popstar Toyah Wilcox did not attend yesterday's rally in Throckmorton, despite a high-profile appearance at a similar protest in May.

The 80s singer, who lives four miles away in Pershore, insisted then she wanted to "support the community I've known all my life".

But there was no sign of her yesterday among the 300-strong crowd vowing to fight the Government's plans for a 750-bed asylum seekers' centre on the former airfield.

Those who braved the threat of rain were rewarded with support from West Midlands Euro MP Liz Lynne, who also turned out for the May rally.

Yellow-jacketed Miss Lynne tied her own yellow ribbon to the MoD fencing to support campaign.

Europe

She called for a Europe-wide immigration policy and the speeding up of claims to stop bogus asylum seekers reaching British shores.

"This is simply the wrong place for asylum seekers," she insisted. "It's wrong for the village - they've put up with the foot-and-mouth burial site and landfill - but it's also wrong for asylum seekers to be stuck in the middle of the countryside.

"The British Red Cross don't want it, neither do any other organisations that have anything to do with refugees, and the Government has simply got to think again."

She said she had been lobbying in Europe for a common immigration policy.

"Those who genuinely seek asylum - those who have been tortured, or seen their families killed - should be allowed in," she said.

"But the processing of claims needs to be speeded up so officials can distinguish quickly between genuine refugees and those who have no claim.

"And if they arrive in any other European country before they get to Britain, then they should be dealt with there."