Critics have accused Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, of adopting “dangerous” rhetoric on immigration, after he championed “very large scale” expulsions of people from cities – and claimed that anyone with daughters would agree with him.

Merz, who took office in May with a pledge to beat back the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, on Monday chastised a reporter who asked if he wished to revise his hardline remarks on migration from last week in light of widespread criticism, or apologise for them.

“I don’t know if you have children, and daughters among them,” Merz said to the journalist. “Ask your daughters, I suspect you’ll get a pretty loud and clear answer. I have nothing to take back; to the contrary I stress: we have to change something.”