Calls by a group of Tory MPs to scrap social care visas have been branded “insane” and xenophobic” by a care leader.

The proposals were launched by the New Conservatives, a group of 25 Tory MPs, yesterday.

Tony Stein, chief executive of Healthcare Management Solutions, described the call to stop employing overseas workers in the care sector as “frankly, insane and not just a little xenophobic”.

Stein told Caring Times: “We need to stop seeing immigration as a single homogeneous issue. There is a world of difference between someone coming from a safe country to benefit from our generous welfare state and those coming to work hard and fill jobs that we desperately need filling.

“Whenever we talk about immigration we need to limit the discussion to illegal migration unless it’s to applaud and welcome those whose only driver is to help us dig our way out of a crisis brought about by an ageing population and an unwillingness of our local governments to pay care fees that allow operators to reward carers properly.”

There are currently around 165,000 vacancies in the social care sector with many care homes being forced to close due to staffing shortages.

Stein added: “Those coming over today to work in our homes and hospitals are today’s Windrush generation and we should be standing at the airports waving flags not trying to stop them as a cheap way of winning some political ground.”