London: British Defence Minister Michael Fallon said on Monday he had been careless to talk of towns being “swamped” by immigrants after political rivals accused him and the ruling Conservatives of using irresponsible language to get re-elected next year.

Under growing pressure from the anti-EU UK Independence Party (Ukip) ahead of a May 2015 national election, Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives have said they want to try to curb immigration from the European Union if re-elected — a move Brussels says would infringe the right to free movement.

Ukip, which wants Britain to leave the EU, has put immigration at the centre of its election campaign after Cameron’s party promised but failed to get annual net migration down to the tens of thousands from the hundreds of thousands.

Fallon said on Sunday the government was considering curbing the number of EU citizens allowed to work in Britain in order “to prevent whole towns and communities being swamped by huge numbers of migrants”. He said that parts of the country felt “under siege” from migrant workers.

The word “swamped” is seen as particularly emotive, having being used by then-Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher in 1978 in the context of wanting to cut immigration from former British colonies. Thatcher served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

Cameron’s office has said Fallon used the wrong language.

Fallon said on Monday he had misspoken and used words he would not usually have used, but said the thrust of his remarks had been correct.

“I was a bit careless with my words, I accept that,” Fallon told Sky News.

“[But] there are a large number of people coming here from the rest of Europe. This is one of the more successful economies in Europe and there’s pressure as a result of that migration on social services, on housing, on school places.”

Net immigration rises

On Sunday, he highlighted the east of England as one area which is receiving many immigrants. However, some farmers say they need EU migrants to help gather the harvest.

In August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said net long-term migration into Britain was 243,000 in the year to March 2014, up from 175,000 in the previous 12 months. The ONS said the number of EU citizens moving to Britain rose to 214,000 from 170,000 over the same period.

Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain’s ties with the EU ahead of a referendum on membership if he wins the 2015 election. He is due to set out in the coming weeks plans for tackling immigration.

Cameron, who has noticeably toughened his own rhetoric on Europe and immigration in recent weeks, is under pressure from Eurosceptic lawmakers in his own party who fear losing their seats to Ukip next year and believe he is too liberal.

Both the European Commission, the EU’s executive, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have said they would not back restrictions on the freedom of workers to move around the EU and, if re-elected, Cameron is likely to face a tough job negotiating any changes.

Cameron is due to address parliament later on Monday about his country’s EU relations after he refused on Friday to pay a surprise 2.1-billion euro (Dh9.7 billion) bill from the EU.