The Prime Minister has said it is “wrong” to describe the terror attack on Westminster Bridge and Parliament on Wednesday as “Islamic terrorism”.

Following her statement in the House of Commons on Thursday morning Theresa May was asked by Conservative MP Michael Tomlinson whether she agreed that the term was inappropriate.

He asked her: “It is reported that what happened yesterday was an act of ‘Islamic terror’.

“Will the Prime Minister agree with me that what happened was not Islamic, just as the murder of Airey Neave was not Christian, and that in fact both are perversions of religion?”

Ms May replied that she believed it was not right to use the term, suggesting that such ideology was “perversion”.

“I absolutely agree, and it is wrong to describe this as ‘Islamic terrorism’,” she said.

“It is ‘Islamist terrorism’, it is a perversion of a great faith.”

Mr Tomlinson’s question referred to the killing of a Conservative MP by the Irish National Liberation Army in 1979 by car bomb attack at the House of Commons.

In making her statement Ms May appeared to correct her Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who this morning said there was a working assumption that the attack was linked to “Islamic terrorism”.

“It was no accident that this attack was on Westminster, because it is at Westminster that we debate differences, very sharp differences, very freely and respectfully between us, and this kind of Islamic terrorism doesn’t respect those differences, so it is no accident that there was an attack here,” he had said in a statement.

In pictures: Westminster attack Show all 9 1 /9 In pictures: Westminster attack In pictures: Westminster attack An air ambulance lands after gunfire sounds were heard close to the Palace of Westminster in London PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack MPs wait until the situation is under control in Westminster. 'The alleged assailant was shot by armed police,' David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, told the house. BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Crowds gather in Westminster after shooting incident, which police are treating as terror attack BBC News In pictures: Westminster attack Police were also called to an incident on Westminster Bridge nearby AP In pictures: Westminster attack Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight inch knife PA wire In pictures: Westminster attack Police have asked people to avoid the immediate area to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident AP In pictures: Westminster attack One woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital Reuters In pictures: Westminster attack At least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended AP

Four people including the suspected attacker and a police officer died in Wednesday’s attack. At least 40 others were injured in the attack, with seven reported to be in a critical condition.