Replying to Badenoch, Sir Keir said: “Let me be clear: I do not agree with the decision. The leader of the opposition is right that it is the wrong decision.

“She has not quite done her homework, however, because the decision in question was taken under the last government, according to their legal framework.”

He went on: “It should be Parliament that makes the rules on immigration; it should be the government who make the policy. That is the principle. The home secretary is already looking at the legal loophole that we need to close in this particular case.”

The prime minister has not specified what the “legal loophole” is that he wants to close.

Meanwhile, the two Upper Tribunal judges, who granted the family permission to reunite in the UK, said that their decision was not creating a Palestinian settlement scheme, but dealing with a complex and exceptional case.

They had not been presented with any evidence from the government that this family’s unusual case would open “floodgates”.

The UK currently has schemes for some Afghans, Ukrainians and people from Hong Kong to come to the UK, but no route for Palestinians.

Reflecting on the PMQs clash, Baroness Carr said on Monday that “both the question and the answer were unacceptable”.

“It is for the government visibly to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary,” she said. “Where parties, including the government, disagree with their findings, they should do so through the appellate process.”

She also said MPs, “just like the governing body, have a duty to respect the rule of law”. Her officials had now written to the prime minister and the lord chancellor’s offices.