Some believe Welsh communities are under threat

Group founder Simon Brooks said: "It was only last year that those of us who believed that newcomers should learn the language of their new community were being written off as the madcap fringe of Welsh politics."

"But today, Blunkett is putting the future of community languages at the heart of government policy.

"He is saying that newcomers to any community must respect its culture and learn the language."

A test requiring an asylum applicant to pass a test in English, Welsh or Scottish Gallic is a central plank of a package of sweeping reforms to the UK immigration system.

It demands "a sense of civic identity and shared values and knowledge of the English language (or Welsh language or Scottish Gaelic which are provided for in the British Nationality Act 1981)."

Pledge tests

Applicants will also have to take an oath of allegiance at a special ceremony and exams in the British way of life and institutions.

The Home Office said Mr Blunkett's White Paper, outlined in the House of Commons, amounts to the biggest change in the system for generations.

Wales has welcomed a great many people from different parts of the world

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy also welcomed the inclusion of Welsh in the measures as "a genuine step forward in our reform of nationality, immigration and asylum policies."

But former Labour minister Tony Benn said it amounts to the revival of nationalism.

And the Home Office said tests in UK languages including Welsh were nothing new - a spokesperson said they were stipulated in 1983 as part of the nationality act.

Rules reaction

Mr Murphy added: "Wales is well known in its cultural diversity and has, over the years welcomed a great many people from different parts of the world.

"We are working together with the National Assembly for Wales in partnership with the Home Office about the implications that may arise from the White Paper and any other immigration issues that affect Wales."

Immigration policy is not a devolved matter, but the Welsh Secretary's hint could bode for a slightly different interpretation of some of Mr Blunkett's stipulations by the Cardiff Bay administration.

Measures are designed to make immigration more difficult

Established in the summer of 2001 to lobby the Welsh Assembly, Cymuned members have made several controversial statements alerting politicians to an apparent deterioration in the integrity of the Welsh language in heartland areas receiving migrants from across the border.

Members, who number some disgruntled Plaid Cymru politicians, have bemoaned property prices, claiming the housing market puts local homes out of the reach of all but the wealthiest of "outsiders."

The group's Mr Brooks accused Labour of "a major U-turn" on its language and immigration policy.

"Welsh MPs and AMs need to do a lot of hard thinking about how these new rules on citizenship can be applied to Wales," he said.

"This must mean that we create an atmosphere where newcomers to Welsh-speaking communities are encouraged and expected to learn Welsh.

"It is only on this basis that they can take part in community life fully.

"Teaching Welsh to the tens of thousands of English monoglot in-comers to Welsh-speaking Wales is the challenge that faces us in the coming years."

After the new measures were announced, Plaid Cymru MPs called for greater use of the Welsh language in the House of Commons.