FIRST minister Carwyn Jones has branded plans announced by Prime Minister Theresa May this week to put a number of restrictions on migration as “disturbing, sinister and beneath contempt”.
Plans announced at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Birmingham as part of the oncoming Brexit include employers being required to keep lists of non-British employers and for foreign doctors to be made to return to their home countries.
But, in a letter to Labour Party members and supports in Wales Mr Jones slammed the plans.
“The content and tone of the announcements made in the Tory conference have been disturbing, sinister and beneath contempt,” he said.
“This isn’t just dog-whistle politics, it is politics of the gutter.”
Although the pro-EU first minister conceded Wales had voted to leave in June, Mr Jones said the Brexit would be “a seismic and unsettling event in our country’s history”.
“We cannot re-fight that battle, but we can fight for our vision of the future, a bright future for our children and grandchildren based on our values of fairness, internationalism and prosperity for all,” he said.
“The announcements coming from the Tories this week show just how vital it is that we win that fight, it is a fight for the soul of post-Brexit Britain and we cannot allow these hardliners a free run in that contest.”
He also branded the plans to deport foreign doctors where UK-born staff are available a “terrible insult to people who work day in, day out to save and improve lives across Wales”.
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