HOLYROOD’S leading spokeswoman on human rights has compared the Tory government’s attitude to foreign workers to the rise of Nazis in the 1930s.

At the SNP conference, Christina McKelvie condemned last week’s Home Office proposal to have UK companies list foreign workers as "disgusting, disgraceful and deeply disturbing".

The plan was shelved within days after a backlash from businesses and other parties.

Ms McKelvie, convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities & Human Rights Committee, said the dawn of post-Brexit Britain had brought “some of the most right-wing reactionary politics that I've heard in my lifetime at a mainstream party political conference.

"The Tory party conference last week was a disgusting, disgraceful and deeply disturbing insight to what may face us in this land if we become the bystanders and do not speak out against discrimination.

"They came for the human rights lawyers and we did nothing, but we will not do nothing. The poisonous rhetoric has no place in our land. We heard Tory minister after Tory minister tell us foreign students were not welcome, that foreign doctors could only stay long enough to train our home grown doctors then you could get lost.

"We heard nothing to set the minds at rest of the EU nationals that have given much to our lives, communities, culture, arts, research, innovation and tax take. They have given more than they have taken out.

"Now we have lists of foreign workers reminiscent of the rise of Nazism in the 1930s."

The conference also heard from the French-born former MSP Christian Allard, who attacked Tory MSP Alexander Burnett for questioning his right to comment on Scottish politics because he was an “EU citizen”.

Delegates at the conference overwhelmingly backed a resolution condemning the Tories "deeply ugly" vision for a Brexit Britain where "people are judged based on their passport rather than their abilities".

Home Secretary Amber Rudd was widely criticised after the foreign workers proposal emerged last week, with her officials suggesting it could be used to embarrass companies employing low numbers of British workers.

However, in a swift climbdown, Tory education minister Justine Greening announced on Sunday that firms would not be "named and shamed" after all.

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “After Nicola Sturgeon ramped up her rhetoric in a bid to play to the SNP gallery, it’s no surprise to see a junior MSP take this a step further.

“These were uninformed and stupid remarks. When elected representatives say things like this, it’s no wonder the SNP can’t get their cowardly cybernats under control.”