Lesley Riddoch: Theresa May shoots herself in her kitten-heeled foot

Theresa May tried to talk tough about immigration, place herself as a real contender for the post-Cameron Tory leadership and dispense forever with those feminine kitten heels – and fell flat as a pancake. Not just in the opinion of Scots – who are spring-loaded to take offence at any speech by a Tory grandee – but in the eyes of influential parts of the English Tory establishment.

According to Andrew Neil, her speech was “as tawdry as it was contemptible” and for Simon Walker of the Institute of Directors it was “dangerous and factually wrong”. Her speech was so right-wing, Nigel Farage accused her of stealing it. “Nice to see Theresa May repeating so much of what I have said,” he tweeted. It’s a remarkable feat to unite so many of your erstwhile supporters in outspoken horrified opposition. But this daughter of the manse has managed it. What went wrong?

Has the refugee crisis changed people – or at least changed public opinion enough to cause savvy commentators to back off the Home Secretary’s brand of purple prose and rabble-rousing inflammatory rhetoric?

The death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi – found lifeless on a Mediterranean beach – was a turning point for many citizens and a mobilisation of voluntary effort followed on an epic scale to send clothes, food, tents, toiletries and cash to help the refugees pouring into Europe.

Has May not noticed this? Of course, she largely focused on economic migrants – not refugees in search of asylum from the horrific circumstances of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. But just as refugees were once “damned” by association with migrants, migrants are now benefiting from association with the brave, desperate asylum seekers being portrayed nightly on TV. It seems May hasn’t noticed that either.

But beyond that reassessment by the British public, the Home Secretary’s nasty anti-migrant view is contradicted by a few well-publicised, inconvenient truths.

Firstly, her threat to ban new EU migrants from claiming benefits in the UK for four years sounds tough – but may be as undeliverable as the Tory goal to cut immigration.

Secondly, there’s the neutral or positive impact most migrants have on the British economy. May claimed: “We know that for people in low-paid jobs, wages are forced down even further while some people are forced out of work altogether.”

Actually, we know nothing of the kind.

The Treasury says immigration means annual GDP growth is a quarter of a percentage point higher; the Office for Budget Responsibility says immigration means the deficit is smaller because of the taxes immigrants pay; and the OECD says immigration makes Britain richer and British public services more sustainable. Did she think these factual analyses have been airbrushed from our memory banks?

Thirdly, there’s May’s claim that high levels of immigration make it “impossible to build a cohesive society”.

This is frankly offensive. Earlier this week I sat in the clinic of a fabulous consultant at Perth Royal Infirmary, a Syrian who has been in Scotland for many years and has made it his home.

Before his clinic he regularly comes out to shake hands with patients, putting them at ease, astounding everyone with his recall of their mums, dads, recent celebrations or sorrows and managing to summon a genuine, heartfelt smile on every occasion despite problems of understaffing and his own overwhelming personal grief about the plight faced by his fellow Syrians.

Scots and their easily strained civilities can only learn from contact with people whose customs and traditions have not been compromised and hardened during long decades surviving the devastating impact of Thatcher and the equally damaging years of market-led politics that followed. We need to relearn the place of warmth in health, healing and public life. Folk from other cultures are already leading the way.

Fourthly, May’s talk of Britain being overwhelmed by immigrants speaks volumes about the fears of southern England and nothing on the needs of Scotland, where the latest data shows half of all migrants are educated to degree level or higher.

Analysis of the 2011 census shows that 49 per cent of the 369,000 immigrants who settled in Scotland held a degree – nearly twice the proportion of the population as a whole. Among migrants from within Europe, the proportion was 60 per cent. Scotland needs qualified, self-starting folk like this while we change our systems, education and experience of poverty to ensure Scots reach the same heights.

May is out of step with all but the most rabid, Ukip-leaning opinion in Britain and with any luck has just ruled herself out as the next Conservative leader. Meanwhile, Scots MPs know they have yet another massive job on their hands to mitigate the impact of small-minded, bitter Tory-thinking on immigration.

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