New home secretary Sajid Javid says Theresa May's 'hostile' immigration rhetoric is not British

The new home secretary waited just six hours after starting his job on Monday to distance himself from the “hostile” immigration rhetoric Theresa May championed for six years.

Sajid Javid said use of the word “hostile” – repeatedly deployed by Ms May – had been “incorrect” and “unhelpful”, and did not “represent our values as a country”.

The shift in language sets Mr Javid on a collision course with the prime minister, who has used the term “hostile environment” since 2012 to describe what she wants illegal immigrants to experience in the UK.

Mr Javid – the first black and minority ethnic and Muslim home secretary – also said he would review the Home Office’s use of internal targets, despite Ms May’s defence of them in an interview hours earlier.

He was speaking as the government desperately tried to draw a line under the scandal that cost his predecessor Amber Rudd her job. But critics cast doubt on whether his words meant an actual change of approach.

It was shortly after 10am on Monday that Downing Street announced Mr Javid would take charge of the Home Office from Ms Rudd, who quit amid a row about deportation targets and the Windrush scandal.

Critics claim both issues are underpinned by the single-minded drive to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in the UK – instigated by Ms May when she was home secretary.

With Mr Javid forced to confront anger over the “hostile environment” approach in the Commons by 4pm, he said: “I don’t like the phrase hostile.

“So the terminology I think is incorrect and I think it is a phrase that is unhelpful and it doesn’t represent our values as a country.”

Before quitting, Ms Rudd was reported to have been livid that she was dealing with the fallout of a broad approach to immigration implemented by Ms May.

She was quick to tweet praise for Mr Javid’s opening comments on Monday, calling his appearance an “outstanding debut”.

It will not have gone unnoticed in Downing Street that the new home secretary suggested language used by the prime minister for years does not reflect British “values”.

He also risked provoking anger at Number 10 by saying he would review the use of “internal migration targets” at the Home Office, before deciding whether they should be kept – just hours after the prime minister gave an interview defending them.

Ms May had said: “When I was home secretary we did have targets, targets for ensuring we were dealing with illegal immigrants.

“I think if you ask any member of the public they will say that they do want government making sure that people who are here illegally are removed.”

Asked whether Ms May wanted targets to continue at the Home Office later in the day, a Downing Street spokesman said it is up to the secretary of state to set “priorities”.

It is not the first sign that Ms May’s Cabinet is challenging her long-established approach to immigration, with foreign secretary Boris Johnson recently reported to have called for an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have resided in the country for 10 years or more.

Labour MPs questioned whether Mr Javid’s words would really lead to any change in policy or approach, with the new home secretary also having underlined his desire to tackle illegal immigration.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott called on Mr Javid to reinstate “protections” for immigrants which she argued had been removed by Ms May’s 2014 Immigration Act.

She went on: “The Windrush generation was my parents’ generation. I believe – and most British people believe – that they have been treated appallingly.

“And he will be judged not on the statements he makes this afternoon. He will be judged on what he does to put the situation right and get justice for the Windrush generation.”

Policies under the “hostile environment” banner that aimed to make it harder for illegal immigrants to lead a settled life in the UK were super-charged by the Immigration Act 2014, proposed by Ms May when she ran the Home Office.

In particular they sought to prevent people getting jobs, renting a home, accessing medical care, opening a bank account or getting a driving licence.

In 2012 she said in an interview: “The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.”

She returned to her favoured phrase as she put her plans into legislation and took it to the Commons, telling MPs in 2013 that her proposals were about “making the UK a more hostile place for illegal migrants”.

But when people from the Windrush generation of immigrants to the UK, who arrived from the Caribbean between the late 1940s and early 1970s, found themselves targeted by immigration officials, critics blamed the “hostile environment” approach.

Windrush victims who have every right to be in the country – some of whom have lived here for decades – were targeted and reported losing their jobs and homes for failing to have the right paperwork. There have also been stories of people being denied critical medical treatment and being targeted for deportation.

As the furore grew, Ms Rudd offered an apology, with Ms May following suit soon after, but both have been adamant that the situation is isolated and not related to any incorrect broader approach to dealing with illegal immigration.

Ms Rudd was summoned to the Commons Home Affairs Committee to answer questions on the scandal and ended up inadvertently misleading MPs over her knowledge of internal Home Office targets for the numbers of people who should be deported.

After first denying they existed, she was forced to admit they were used, but claimed she was unaware of them – something a string of leaked documents contradicted, making her resignation on Sunday inevitable.