EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May's vision of a new Britain is an ugly one where people are judged on their passport rather than their contribution to society, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday.
"It is a vision the Scottish Government wants no part of, and one which we will never subscribe to," Sturgeon, whose nationalist party is not ruling out a new Scottish independence vote, said in a statement.
Plans by the Conservative Party to look at whether hiring foreign workers should be made harder in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union were an "appalling, regressive, and hugely troubling development," she said.
Earlier May unveiled what she called a new vision for the Conservatives, to take on board the result of EU vote and serve the country by spreading wealth more evenly and becoming the party for "ordinary working class people".
On Tuesday, Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the government would launch a review into whether recruiting foreign workers should be made harder, a move condemned by employer groups.
Concerns over immigration were a key factor in the vote to leave the EU. Scotland voted to stay in the EU, counter to the vote in England and Wales, heightening tensions over Scotland's place within the UK.