The home secretary has come out fighting over his choice of language in defending controversial asylum plans.

A war of words broke out over David Blunkett's use of the term "swamped" to describe the impact of asylum seekers on schools.

Blunkett did get unequivocal backing from Downing Street with the official spokesman saying he was "quite right" to describe the problem in the way that he had.

"What we are talking about here is a serious policy issue. David Blunkett has got 100 per cent support from the prime minister for approaching this in a practical and measured way," said Number 10. "The public have to be confident that we are dealing with this issue."

Campaigners believed Blunkett's remarks raised unwelcome echoes of a notorious Margaret Thatcher interview in 1978, when she used the expression while attacking the impact of immigration on British culture.

Speaking to the BBC today he rejected the comparison. "I don't apologise. The idea that a word becomes unusable because an ex-prime minister used while she was in opposition 24 years ago in a entirely different context and in an emotive way is ridiculous," he said.

The row followed remarks on Wednesday when Blunkett took on critics of plans to educate the children of asylum seekers in secure centres rather than local schools.

"People will be able to come and go, but importantly not swamping the local school," he said.

Following heightened political sensitivity over race issues in the aftermath of Jean Marie Le Pen's French presidential election shock, the home secretary linked the pressure put on schools to the rise of the far right.

"It causes friction, it is, if you like, the firelighter for the BNP and others who want to cause mayhem," he had said on Wednesday. "And I want to stop that by providing a fair, rapid but tough system.

Accusing the media and some Labour MPs of making a "mountain out of a molehill", Blunkett defended his use of words.

He said they were appropriate and well within the correct political and semantic context.

"I did mean to say it. I could have said 'overwhelmed' or 'overburdened' because the dictionary definition is exactly the same, and its that you're swamped with work, you are overwhelmed with work. I didn''t say the UK was swamped," he said.

"I was talking about [swamping] a school or a GP practice, not about immigrants, but about those appealing to get asylum in this country."

His comments were bitterly challenged by Diane Abbott, the Hackney North and Stoke Newington Labour MP.

She told the BBC on Wednesday: "I thought that David's use of the word swamping was unfortunate. We are talking about children here, not raw sewage.

Blunkett said his critics were actually fuelling racism by their disproportionate response.

"It was a very, very silly remark," he said in response to Abbot's attack. "Which in my view evokes racism rather than damping it down."

Blunkett also dismissed media reports that Downing Street had "distanced" itself from his words.

"Frankly, I'm not worried who is or is not in favour of me using the word 'swamped', what I'm interested is getting the issue right," he told the BBC on Thursday.

The row over the etiquette of the race debate has overshadowed the government's asylum bill, which moves towards a "managed" approach to asylum and immigration.

The legislation contains plans to detain asylum seekers in reception centres and will prevent their children attending mainstream schools.

Commons opposition

Backbench Labour MPs and former cabinet ministers have slammed the plans to remove the children of asylum seekers from mainstream schools as "regressive and discriminatory".

The attack comes in a Commons motion put forward by Labour MP Karen Buck.

The motion condemns government plans to prevent the children of asylum seekers attending mainstream schools, describing them as "regressive and discriminatory, and not in the best interests of the child".

The motion has attracted 67 signatures, with former ministers Chris Smith and Frank Dobson among those giving their backing.

The MPs are also urging ministers to accept that "the status of refugee children as children should take precedence over their status as asylum seekers".

They are calling for all children to have access to mainstream school places.

With more than 50 Labour MPs backing the motion, home secretary David Blunkett is facing a growing rift with his own party over the plans.

Asylum overhaul

Blunkett also announced that refugees and asylum seekers who commit serious offences will face deportation.

The new measure is to be brought forward in an amendment to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.

Defending the proposals, the home secretary said: ""There is no place in the UK for those who abuse our hospitality and sanctuary by committing crimes.

"I intend to send a tough message that anyone who is a danger to the British public will not be eligible for protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention."

Following the French presidential result, Home Office ministers have been seeking to show they have practical plans to deal with asylum.

Downing Street believes the public is "rightly concerned" over the issue and is determined to show that the government is "tackling in a focused way" the problem of economic migrants trying to claim political asylum.

There is also a determination among ministers to show that the issue is a global problem.

"What is clear is that the issue of asylum is not unique to this country. The speed at which people can now travel has increased the scope of the problem," said a Downing Street spokesman.With a labour shortage in key trades such as the building industry, there was also recognition that immigrants are a key part of the economy.

"We must also recognise that immigrants have made a huge contribution to our society and our way of life," said Number 10.