Alex Salmond condemns ‘intolerance of Theresa May’s Little England’

The former First Minister warned the PM wanted ‘a closed, intolerant, backward-looking society’

‘There is a better way for Scotland,’ Mr Salmond said at an SNP conference (SNP)

Scotland will remain attached to “Theresa May’s little England” unless it becomes independent, Alex Salmond has said.

The former First Minister said recent anti-foreigner policies and rhetoric emanating from Westminster were turning Britain into a “closed, intolerant, backward-looking society”.

At the Conservative party conference earlier this month the Government was accused of pushing anti-foreigner policies including drawing up lists of foreign workers, a crackdown on foreign students, and the use of EU nationals as “bargaining chips” in negotiations.

“It’s a tale of two countries, and indeed two countries. They say that people who choose to live and work in our country are a problem and need to be kicked out. We say they’re an asset and must stay with us,” Mr Salmond told the SNP’s conference in Glasgow.

His comments come after the annual gathering heard on Friday that the Conservatives were “flirting with fascism”. Ms Salmond said Scotland’s greatest national heroes William Wallace and Robert de Brus had been immigrants and that it should be “free to choose our own way forward”.

“We should be grateful for the Tory party. In their Birmingham conference they lifted the lid on the true intent and the emptiness of their programme. If we stick to London rule then we know exactly what lies in store for us,” he said.

“Boiled down to its essence: a closed, intolerant, backward-looking society. Theresa May’s little England, has there ever been a more miserable, depressing, backward looking notion ever offered to the people of this nation?

“There is a better way for Scotland. No society can be offered a greater compliment by those who choose to live with us. After all, our greatest national heroes were William Wallace the Welshman, Robert de Brus, the Norman – as part of our thousand-year history as a European nation.

“Let us proclaim our vision of a new Scotland, open, tolerant, prosperous, growing, and above all free to choose our own way forward.”

On Thursday Mr Salmond’s successor Nicola Sturgeon announced that the Scottish Government would this week unveil a consultation on a possible second Scottish independence referendum.

The First Minister took to the stage on Friday to greet the Brain family, an Australian family who had been threatened with deportation by the British Government.