DAVID CAMERON last night defended his tough stance on immigration as “moderate, sensible and reasonable” after he was accused by Liberal Democrat cabinet colleague Vince Cable of inflaming extremism.

The Prime Minister said it was time Britain returned to the immigration levels of the 1980s and 1990s where the number of people coming to the UK was in the “tens of thousands, rather than the hundreds of thousands”.

The UK needed “good immigration, not mass immigration”, he told Tory party activists in Southampton, as he attacked the “woeful” welfare system which saw Britons languishing on state handouts while foreign workers snapped up new jobs.

But his speech, which comes three weeks before Conservatives and Liberal Democrats face their first major ballot box showdown since joining forces in Government, drew angry criticism from Mr Cable.

The Business Secretary, who has publicly questioned the impact of a cap on foreign entrants on businesses and universities, described the Prime Minister’s comments as “very unwise”.

“The reference to the tens of thousands of immigrants, rather than hundreds of thousands, is not part of the coalition agreement. It is Tory party policy only,” he told the BBC.

“I do understand there is an election coming, but talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed.”