NICOLA Sturgeon said Theresa May’s speech came as the Tories targeted foreign workers in “the most disgraceful display of reactionary right-wing politics in living memory”.

“It is an appalling, regressive, and hugely troubling development which will leave many people in Scotland – and across the rest of the UK and beyond – wondering, with real concern, what kind of country the Tories want us to be,” the First Minister said.


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She added: “The Prime Minister has claimed that she is seeking out the middle ground of politics – the repellent reality of the policies planned by her party could not be more different.

“Theresa May’s vision of Brexit Britain is a deeply ugly one – a country where people are judged not by their ability or their contribution to the common good but by their birthplace or by their passport.”

Her colleague at Westminster Angus Robertson said Theresa May’s leadership was widening Scotland’s “democratic deficit”.

“Far from being an equal partner in a family of nations we face being dragged out of the EU against our will by a Tory government that we didn’t vote for – and it now looks increasingly likely that we are heading towards a hard Brexit that could do huge damage to our economy and society.

“The Prime Minister’s words on building a fairer society will ring hollow to all those families who face stagnant wages, increased living costs, and rising inequality as a result of her government’s damaging austerity drive and divisive back-to-the-70s sink or swim policy agenda.”

Scottish Labour’s Kezia Dugdale said the whole Tory conference would “go down as one of the most disgusting spectacles in recent political history”.

“Just because Ukip has created a leadership vacancy, it does not mean that Theresa May should try to fill it. The Tories appear to be morphing into Ukip. The chilling suggestion that firms should be forced to reveal how many migrant workers they employ shows just how xenophobic and vindictive the modern Tory Party has become.

“Scottish Labour is clear – this is not the Britain we want to see,” Dugdale said.

Her boss Jeremy Corbyn said May and other senior Tories had “sunk to a new low this week as they fan the flames of xenophobia and hatred in our communities and try to blame foreigners for their own failures.”

He added: “Drawing up lists of foreign workers won’t stop unscrupulous employers undercutting wages in Britain. Shutting the door to international students won’t pay young people’s tuition fee debts, and ditching doctors from abroad won’t cut NHS waiting lists.”

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said it was ridiculous to suggest May was not carving out a place on the centre-ground: “Regardless of the rhetoric, the Conservatives have moved to the right. The prime minister’s words about a pitch to the centre-ground are utterly divorced from her party’s actions over the last few days”

There was some praise for the Tory leader’s speech from a rival. Ukip’s sole MP Douglas Carswell tweeted: “A Bill to leave the EU. Grammar schools. Money for defence. Feels like Ukip has taken control.”