Anyone who has ever visited a loved one in one of Britain’s many excellent care homes will know how hard the staff work – frequently way beyond the call of duty – and the skill and dedication with which they provide for the comfort and dignity of the residents, often in very challenging circumstances.

The work care assistants do is underpaid and also grossly undervalued by society as a whole.

No doubt this is because the vast majority of these workers are women.

How dare Priti Patel and Boris Johnson treat these workers as “unskilled”!

How dare they propose to sacrifice the vulnerable elderly at the altar of their dubious ideology!

The devastating effect on the care sector of the post-Brexit immigration rules is wholly predictable, and many qualified people have already told them so.

The way we treat the most vulnerable in society is the best measure of how civilised we are as a country.

Prime Minister Johnson and Home Secretary Patel are creating an increasingly barbaric United Kingdom.

J E R Gaston

Thornhill, Southampton