diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_shared_key_bindings.fish b/share/functions/__fish_shared_key_bindings.fish
index 668f59228..3a030ee64 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_shared_key_bindings.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_shared_key_bindings.fish
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ function __fish_shared_key_bindings -d "Bindings shared between emacs and vi mod
     bind --preset -M paste \\ "__fish_commandline_insert_escaped \\\ \$__fish_paste_quoted"
     # Only insert spaces if we're either quoted or not at the beginning of the commandline
     # - this strips leading spaces if they would trigger histignore.
-    bind --preset -M paste \  'if set -q __fish_paste_quoted[1]; or string length -q -- (commandline -c); commandline -i " "; end'
+    bind --preset -M paste " " self-insert-notfirst
 end
 
 function __fish_commandline_insert_escaped --description 'Insert the first arg escaped if a second arg is given'
diff --git a/tests/bind.expect b/tests/bind.expect
index bb9984dbf..3b9a3290c 100644
--- a/tests/bind.expect
+++ b/tests/bind.expect
@@ -299,3 +299,15 @@ expect_prompt -re {nul seen\r\nnul seen\r\nnul seen} {
 } unmatched {
     puts stderr "nul not seen"
 }
+
+# Test self-insert-notfirst. (#6603)
+# Here the leading 'q's should be stripped, but the trailing ones not.
+send "bind q self-insert-notfirst\r"
+expect_prompt
+send "qqqecho qqq"
+send "\r"
+expect_prompt -re {qqq} {
+    puts "Leading q properly stripped"
+} unmatched {
+    puts stderr "Leading qs not stripped"
+}
diff --git a/tests/bind.expect.out b/tests/bind.expect.out
index e8c467f53..a10e5fb0c 100644
--- a/tests/bind.expect.out
+++ b/tests/bind.expect.out
@@ -23,3 +23,4 @@ ctrl-o seen
 ctrl-w stops at :
 ctrl-w stops at @
 nul seen
+Leading q properly stripped