Backlash after Theresa May hints foreign-born doctors could be sent home once we have enough Brits to replace them
SNP MPs have compared Government ministers to the Nazis following comments about the future of the NHS
THERESA May is engulfed in a huge row tonight after she was leapt on for suggesting foreign doctors may be asked to leave Britain once enough British docs are trained up to replace them.
The PM said foreign doctors will be allowed to stay "until further numbers (of home-grown doctors) are trained".
But her comments – which appeared to suggest foreign medics wouldn’t be welcome in Britain after – provoked an immediate backlash.
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon accusing the Government of "breathtaking arrogance".
And SNP MPs waded into the row comparing Government ministers to the Nazis.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast today, the Prime Minister was asked: “Can you reassure those doctors, nurses, other staff working in the NHS from overseas they are welcome to stay here in that interim period?”
She replied: "Yes, there will be staff here from overseas in that interim period, until the further numbers of British doctors are able to be trained and come on board in terms of being able to work in our hospitals. So, we will ensure that the numbers are there.
"But I think it's absolutely right as we look to the future that we say we want to see more British doctors in our health service - those people who want to train as doctors who are perhaps stopped from doing so at the moment because of the limits on numbers - this opens up opportunities for them.
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"And it will also be of benefit to hospitals to be able to have a larger pool of British doctors."
Ms Sturgeon fired off a tweet saying: “The arrogance of this from the UK Government is breathtaking... like they’re somehow doing these doctors a favour by ‘allowing’ them to save lives here.”
And SNP MP Pete Wishart went further, aping the famous poem “First They Came” - about Hitler’s persecution of target groups.
He tweeted: “First they came for the berry farm workers. Then they came for the Drs. Next they came for the ..... #toryBrexit #yourUK.”
Fellow SNP MP Peter Grant shared Mr Wishart’s post, adding: “For anyone who recognises where this quote is borrowed from, it’s frighteningly accurate.”
It came as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt pledged to end reliance on foreign doctors down south, by increasing numbers trained in medical schools by 25 per cent.
About 40,000 of the 150,000 docs in England are from overseas.
In his speech to the Tory conference, Mr Hunt said: “Currently a quarter of our doctors come from overseas.
"They do a fantastic job and the NHS would fall over without them. When it comes to those that are EU nationals, we’ve been clear we want them to be able to stay post-Brexit.
“But looking forward, is it right to carry on importing doctors from poorer countries that need them, whilst we turn away bright home graduates desperate to study medicine?”
Dr Mark Porter, BMA council chair, said: “While it is a welcome move for the government to create more places at medical school, we won't see more doctors for another eight to 10 years.
"This is not an alternative to recruiting doctors from overseas.
"The NHS needs more doctors to address the chronic staff shortages and rota gaps across the NHS, and major recruitment problems in areas such as emergency medicine and general practice.
“The reality that without overseas doctors, our NHS health service would not be able to serve its patients.”