Conservative conference worries

Sir, For many the headlines from the Tory conference relating to immigration will have caused considerable dread and alarm.

Firms forced to list the number of foreign workers they employ, doctors from overseas told they are not welcome and Liam Fox commenting that EU nationals living in the UK will be used as ‘negotiating cards’ in the Brexit negotiations.

The previously thinly veiled xenophobia has been shamelessly turned up a notch and is now very much to the fore.

Indeed, on this issue I was struck to what degree home secretary Amber Rudd’s speech reflected Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical work, Mein Kampf.

The latter stated: ‘It is very important that firms declare how much of their workforce is foreign because they’re just domiciled in this state simply as earners of their livelihood there. They’re not members of the nation, they’re not members of the foundation and the support of the nation’s existence and greatness.’

We must continue to reiterate to those living in Scotland, wherever they are from, that they are welcome here. In 2002, as chairman of the Conservative Party, Theresa May commented that the Conservatives were being called ‘the nasty party’ by some. Little, it appears, has changed and in fact that party just turned considerably nastier.

Alex Orr, Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh.