Sylvi Listhaug used Sweden as the cautionary tale when speaking about recent terror attacks in Europe, as well as a package of asylum reforms due before the Norwegian parliament shortly.

“Many of those who have carried out terror attacks in Europe are born and raised in France and Belgium. It shows how important it is to succeed with integration and that is again connected to how many come to Norway. Therefore a tight immigration policy is important,” she said.

In the aftermath of the terror attacks in Brussels, there has been a debate in Norway on so-called parallel societies and neighbourhoods where the police don’t dare to patrol. Listhaug acknowledged that the problem exists.

“We have foreign fighters who have left Norway and [we have] radical environments. We should not stick our heads in the sand and say that everything is good here. But fortunately we are a long way from the conditions we see in some other countries, for example Sweden,” she told NTB.

It was revealed earlier this month that a man with suspected links to radical group Isis, who was shot dead in a Brussels raid just days before the terror attack, had previously lived in Sweden.

Sweden has attempted to crack down on foreign fighters, with the security service saying that up to 300 Swedes are believed to have travelled to Syria or Iraq to fight in the past three years. Around 40 are thought to have died in battle and around 125 are understood to remain in the Middle East.