Penny Mordaunt slapped down the SNP for taking the “moral high ground” in a furious rant in the House of Commons.
She accused the party of having an “appalling record on destroying the education system”.
This came after SNP MP Dierdre Brock criticised the Government’s new plans to cut down on legal migration by raising the threshold at which people can bring spouses to the UK.
Last week, Home Secretary James Cleverly unveiled a five-point plan to cut net migration – a plan he said would slash numbers by 300,000.
He claimed the move will be the “biggest ever reduction” in migration.
Brock told the House of Commons: “The Government plumb new depths with their immigration panic measures, which are so damaging to Scotland in particular.”
She added: “If we, our children or our grandchildren fall in love with someone from another country—many of us do so on our travels; I am living proof of that—they will not be able to join us here unless we have guaranteed earnings nearing £39,000.
“Cue a further exodus of our young people from these shores to other countries with a more enlightened approach to migration and their citizens’ human rights.
“Even worse, those who have already gone through the process and who thought that they had won the right to live here in peace will have to come up with that figure the next time their visa is extended.
“Should Parliament not have debated these extreme measures first?
“Can the Leader of the House defend this shameful policy, or are she and other Ministers threatening to resign?”
Hitting back, Mordaunt said: “I would ask her to go and have a look at the SNP’s record on education.
“I have spoken about that in the last two business question sessions, so I shall not detain the House any longer on it.
“I think everyone in this Chamber is aware of the SNP’s appalling record on destroying the education system in Scotland—the only people who are not are those in charge of it.”
She continued: “The theme of her question is really values and morality. Does she think it would be moral if a Government denied faster NHS treatment to its citizens post covid because they did not want to send them to an English hospital?
“I understand that the former Health Secretary made that offer to the First Minister and it was rejected. Is it moral to offer a pay deal, as she boasts, to public sector workers, including NHS workers, without a plan to pay for it?
“Come to think of it, is it moral to withhold funds designated for business rate relief from businesses?
“Would she describe it as moral if a Government denied their citizens the ability to have a civil partnership—she speaks of relationships—with their opposite-sex partner for a year, including those who were terminally ill, because they did not want the UK Government to legislate on their behalf?
“While the hon. Lady is looking up the SNP’s record on education, I would ask her also to check how many concurrent police investigations there are into the SNP’s antics.
“Owing to her party’s antics, I am afraid her quest to take the moral high ground is stuck at a subterranean level.
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“But given that she has, as is standard SNP operating procedure, played the man as well as the ball, I will set the record straight on my own record with regard to refugees.”
The Leader of the Commons added: “I can tell the hon. Lady that migration is one of the most critical issues facing our country and the world and that the global rules on it are broken.
“I have made it my business to understand how we can fix them—that is our duty—and it will take global leadership to build the tools to rewrite those rules.
“If we do it, I think other nations will follow.
“I would ask her to really check what her duty is in this manner and consider supporting our legislation.”
