Ian Murray's 'Farage is smiling' attack back to haunt him
The Edinburgh South MP had been one of a number of Labour politicians to brief against then-party leader Jeremy Corbyn after a speech on immigration in 2018.
Corbyn had told his party's conference that the government needed to stop employers from 'being able to import cheap agency labour to undercut existing pay and conditions' in the UK.
The comments were leapt on by Murray, who said that politicians should instead be 'brave' enough to talk about the benefits of immigration.
READ MORE: Why Labour's care visa reforms just won't work for Scotland
In comments reported by the Independent, the Scottish Secretary said: 'I'm disappointed that the Labour Party is not making this argument: immigration is good for the United Kingdom and Scotland and we have to be brave enough to stand up and make that point.
'And I was incredibly disappointed to see yesterday that the only person smiling after that passage in Jeremy's speech would have been Nigel Farage.'
However, in the UK Government's new white paper on immigration reform, which was published on Monday, similar arguments to Corbyn's are made.
Under a section confirming that no visas will be issued for care workers, the Labour Government argued that critical workforce issues in the sector are the fault of 'historic levels of poor pay and poor terms and conditions leading to low domestic recruitment'.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (Image: Sarah Caldecott) The paper goes on: 'This Government is committed to tackling these issues and has committed to establishing Fair Pay Agreements which will empower worker, employer and other sector representatives to negotiate improvements in the terms of employment.
'These agreements will move the UK away from a dependence on overseas workers to fulfil our care needs.'
The Scotland Office has been asked if Murray still believes that the argument would make Farage smile, or if he supports the UK Government's white paper.
SNP MSP Rona Mackay said: 'U-turns and broken promises are what we have come to expect from senior Scottish Labour politicians who now seem more interested in dancing to Nigel Farage's tune than standing up for the interests of Scotland.
'Labour's plans are not only completely out of step with Scotland's values and economic interests – they are a dangerous threat to our NHS and care services and will harm our public services, businesses and economic growth across the country.'
READ MORE: 'Little Englander': Keir Starmer provokes fury over 'speak English' post
And Green MSP Maggie Chapman added: 'Labour has gone from one low to another, choosing to double down, scapegoat and punish migrant communities rather than dismantling the hostile environment policies that were put in place by the Tories.
'Ian Murray knows how cruel these changes are and how much damage they will do to Scotland, so why is he pretending otherwise?
'Labour could improve conditions and increase wages if it wanted to, but instead this UK Labour Government is opting to play cynical games with people's lives.
'Labour is more interested in pandering to Reform than it is in building a compassionate and humane system that supports our services.
'Scotland deserves much better than this nasty Nigel Farage knock-off, and so do our workers and communities.'
Labour leader Keir StarmerPrime Minister Keir Starmer drew furious comparisons to racist English politician Enoch Powell on Monday after he claimed the country was on the path to becoming 'an island of strangers' and said that anyone who wanted to live in the UK should 'speak English'.
Donald Macaskill, the chief executive of Scottish Care, said: 'As a bit of a student of political history I cannot but conclude that it has echoes of Powell at his worst. It is deeply regrettable that using language that plays into negative stereotypes around the contribution of migrants will lead to a devaluing of their contribution.
'The skills and the abilities of our international colleagues are excellent and we have to hold onto our colleagues. We have to get the UK Government to reconsider.'
First Minister John Swinney said the Prime Minister was 'terrified' of Reform UK and had "walked right into the arms of Nigel Farage".
'Nigel Farage could have delivered that speech this morning. I can't believe that Keir Starmer found himself able to," the SNP leader said.
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