NICOLA Sturgeon has accused Labour of sounding like Ukip after Jeremy Corbyn criticised the contribution of foreign nationals describing them as “cheap” workers.

The First Minister took to social media to make clear her views that the UK Labour leader was wrong to make an anti-immigration claim, suggesting it was the sort of argument made by the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.

The Scottish Labour conference in Dundee was earlier beset with a glitch when a sign in the main hall misspelt the name of the Scottish politician – Keir Hardie – who founded the party, spelling Hardie with a “y” rather than correctly with an “ie”.

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“Labour spelling Keir Hardie’s name wrong was amusing. Hearing them echo Nigel Farage is profoundly depressing,” Sturgeon tweeted.

Corbyn’s controversial remarks came as he stated that a Brexit deal under his leadership would ensure “protections or exemptions where necessary from current rules and directives that push privatisation and public service competition”.

He said: “We cannot be held back inside or outside the EU from taking the steps we need to develop and invest in cutting-edge industries and local business to stop the tide of privatisation and outsourcing.

“Or from preventing employers being able to import cheap agency labour, to undercut existing pay and conditions in the name of free market orthodoxy.”

In addition to criticism from the First Minister, his comments also prompted fury from within Scottish Labour as well as from the Scottish Greens.

MEP Catherine Stihler said that leaving the European single market could cost the UK economy £45 billion-a-year, reducing the amount of money available to governments in Westminster and Holyrood.

“And while some voters are angry about immigration, it is the job of the Labour Party to challenge anti-immigrant sentiment and promote the benefits to our economy and public services,” Stihler, who is co-chair of Scottish Labour for the Single Market campaign group, added.

Ross Greer, the Scottish Greens’ Europe spokesman, said foreign nationals should not be used as a scapegoat for British workers’s problems.

“Corbyn arrived in Dundee with the aim of convincing the public Labour could overtake the SNP, instead he’s done nothing more than appear to dog-whistle about immigration to the old Ukip vote,” he said.

“Good socialists don’t tell workers their problems are caused by workers born somewhere else because it’s a lie.

“It’s clear Labour have now fully embraced Brexit and their politicians are now among the loudest cheerleaders for leaving the EU and all its institutions. That was more of a speech for Brexit-voting constituencies in the north of England than it was for remain-voting Scotland.”

During his speech Corbyn criticised the “utter chaos and mismanagement that is defining this Tory Brexit” and claimed Labour had “its own common-sense approach” to leaving the EU – which did not include permanent membership of the single market.

He said: “The European Union is set to make changes of its own in the coming period, especially in relation to the rules governing eurozone economies and the rights of temporary migrant workers.

“It would, therefore, be wrong to sign up to a single market deal without agreement that our final relationship with the EU would be fully compatible with our radical plans to change Britain’s economy.”

He insisted: “We are determined to negotiate a deal that gives us full tariff-free access to the single market.” He said the UK should have a “jobs-first Brexit” deal that must be compatible with Labour’s plans, including proposals to nationalise the railways and postal service.

With Tories at Westminster and the Scottish Government locked in a dispute over what should happen to devolved powers once these are returned from Brussels, Corbyn said the Tories had “played right into the SNP’s hands in hoarding power for themselves at Westminster”.

On Northern Ireland, he said May’s determination to take the UK out of the single market and the customs union meant the Tories were “offering no clear alternative to a hard border”.