The Conservative London mayoral candidate is facing renewed criticism after it emerged he once claimed there was a “cottage industry” of women becoming pregnant in order to secure a council house.

Shaun Bailey, who was selected as the party’s candidate last month, told an event at the Tory conference in 2008 that the practice of “getting knocked up to get housing” had become a problem in some areas.

Bailey’s comments were reported in the Spectator magazine. Then a parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith, he was asked by an audience member whether it was true that some women became pregnant to claim more benefits. He reportedly replied: “Girls getting knocked up to get housing? It’s a cottage industry where I come from.”

The remarks are reminiscent of an infamous speech by Peter Lilley in 1992 when he was a Tory cabinet minister, in which he said he had a “little list” of benefit claimants including “young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing list”. The speech is often cited as a reason for the Conservatives’ “nasty party” image.

An ally of Bailey said that he had not been criticising or judging anyone in making the remarks, but making clear that the system was failing the most vulnerable members of society. They also made clear he had been referring to his specific experience of the west London estate where he grew up.

It is the latest remark from Bailey’s past to draw criticism. In 2008, he wrote in a pamphlet that accommodating Muslims and Hindus “robs Britain of its community” and appeared to suggest that it could contribute to the UK becoming a “crime-riddled cesspool”.

A spokesman for Bailey said that he had “made it his life’s work to help those from migrant and disadvantaged communities, and to suggest otherwise is ludicrous”. James Cleverly, the deputy chairman of the Conservatives, said that Bailey “could and should” have been clearer in the piece that he was not singling out the two religions. He said Bailey continued to have the party’s full support.

Labour is also calling on Bailey to clarify a suggestion he made in 2008 that something was wrong in society because women were accepting a high level of domestic violence. He was reported as telling a Conservative women’s panel event that women should be the ones encouraged to “accept less of men’s rubbish”.

The remarks appeared in an account of the meeting that did not contain direct quotes from Bailey. An ally said the full account of the meeting made clear that Bailey had argued that women were role models within their communities and that he encouraged them to feel empowered enough to oppose a culture of violence.

A spokesman for Bailey said: “Instead of trying to misrepresent and take out of context historical comments from Shaun Bailey, [the mayor] Sadiq Khan’s team should try and focus on tackling the soaring crime rates in London, getting Crossrail back on track and sorting out his dismal record of housing. He needs to spend more time focusing on his day job and less time on the red carpet.”

Dawn Butler, the shadow women and equalities minister, said: “Shaun Bailey must urgently clarify his views on domestic violence as his words will raise serious alarm bells with men and women alike. The views he expressed just a few years ago are repulsive and dangerous and have no place in modern society.

“If Shaun has been on a journey since he said these hurtful things we must hear how his views have now changed.”