If ever we needed proof that Scotland’s interests play precisely no part in Westminster thinking we saw it this week in the disgraceful speech on migration and refugees from the Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The language was extraordinary. Hyperbole was piled upon hyperbole with warnings of colossal immigration, surges and existential threats.

There were also remarkable and sinister passages bemoaning the fact that, according to Ms Braverman, more than one in five births are now to “foreign-born mothers” and that mothers born abroad tend to have more children than women born in the UK.

The speech was widely interpreted as political positioning in advance of an anticipated Tory leadership contest.

That says a lot about the state of the Conservative Party. Labour, for its part, seemed more focussed on how the Tories were running the asylum system than calling out the language for what it is: shameful and extremist.

But as well as being outrageous, this speech, which should have no place in modern political discourse, was a clear demonstration of the necessity of independence.

This isn’t just because of a deep sense of “not in our name” but because it completely ignored the very real population challenge we have in Scotland.

In short, we want and need more people to come to Scotland, not fewer.

That is because we value the many individuals from different countries who have enriched our society and culture in so many ways.

But there is also a hard economic reality.

Historically, Scotland has been a country of net emigration. In recent years, helped by freedom of movement within the EU, that trend has been reversed.

Indeed, the recent census results showed that our population only grew because of people moving here from elsewhere.

Now, of course, the UK Government has taken Scotland out of the EU and imposed a hard Brexit meaning freedom of movement has come to an end.

And according to official projections Scotland is the only country in the UK whose population is now set to fall.

So while the working population of other UK nations is expected to continue rising, unless we have the power to do things differently we will have fewer people working to grow the economy and pay taxes to support public services such as the NHS.

Alongside the climate crisis it is perhaps the biggest issue facing Scotland today and in the future.

This is the context into which Westminster launched its hostile environment policy against migration – a hostile environment which has been turbo-charged by the remarks of the Home Secretary.

They clearly just don’t care how much economic and social damage they are doing to Scotland.

Scottish Government modelling shows that increased immigration into Scotland will in fact lead to a rise in national income and greater tax revenues.

Other independent reports find that migration has a positive effect on productivity – which is the key driver of increased living standards.

So we desperately need decisions about Scotland’s migration policy to be made here in Scotland. It is a prime example of why control of key policy levers should be transferred from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament - and given the positions of both Labour and the Conservatives that is only going to happen with independence.

As part of the fresh independence prospectus we are developing the Scottish Government has set out a new approach to immigration in an independent Scotland.

These include core principles such as supporting fair work, protecting workers’ rights and preventing exploitation as well as encouraging and enabling long-term settlement here.

We would enable workers to bring their families with them, which in turn should improve their ability to integrate and settle.

We’ve published detailed policy on citizenship in an independent Scotland which set out how we would put in place an inclusive and welcoming approach to becoming a Scottish citizen.

And later this year we will set out a full policy document on our proposed migration and asylum system.

Despite the often heated debate there is between Scotland’s political parties on independence and a range of other issues, there has been little or none of the incendiary rhetoric that has disfigured the immigration debate at Westminster.

It should therefore be possible to build a broad consensus around this issue – not least in condemning the kind of language used by Suella Braverman.

And I look forward to the day when we can enact a humane, welcoming and practical immigration policy for Scotland instead of the shameful extremism we saw from the Home Secretary this week.

Jamie Hepburn is the Minister for Independence