In a move condemned by fellow MPs, as well as refugee and asylum bodies, John Spellar, the transport minister, says he will see only registered voters.
The MP for Warley, in the West Midlands, told his local paper: "It is quite clear. I am more than prepared to see and deal with the problems of anyone who is on the electoral register. That way I know they are proper constituents and deserve any help I can offer them."
His remarks were attacked by a Refugee Council spokesperson who said: "Implementing such a policy will leave some of the most vulnerable people in society with no one to turn to and will only risk reinforcing the negative image of asylum seekers."
Other MPs with large numbers of asylum seekers in their constituencies were also furious at Mr Spellar's decision. They denied that there was a particular problem.
One said last night: "We see about six asylum seekers a week. All we have to do is to write a simple little letter which galvanises the immigration and nationality department."
Clive Soley, the former chairman of the parliamentary Labour party, said: "The system does need reforming, but until we have done that my own view is that we need to continue looking at asylum seekers, not least to make sure no deserving cases slip through the net."
Mr Spellar, 55, who was an official of the old Electricians Union - now part of Amicus - before he became an MP, said refugees who had a legitimate right to be in this country were welcome at his surgeries, and added that local people had welcomed his stance.
He was referring people not on the electoral list to the Citizens Advice Bureau or local solicitors who were "better qualified to deal with them".
Bill Thomas, the leader of Sandwell council, who helps Mr Spellar with his surgery, said the decision had been taken reluctantly because asylum seekers were outnumbering his other constituents at the fortnightly sessions.
He said there was an exceptional concentration of asylum seekers in the constituency because "unscrupulous" people had bought up houses and were renting them to the Home Office.
"We have been inundated," Mr Taylor claimed.
Smethwick, which is in the centre of Mr Spellar's constituency, is notorious in political history for a 1964 general election campaign which Labour lost after the Tory candidate fought on an overtly racist platform.
