Ministers from Wales and Scotland have told members of the UK Government that their proposals for immigration controls after Brexit are 'wrong' and will 'add to the damage' Brexit will do.

The exchanges, described as 'heated' by the Scottish Brexit minister, came at a meeting in Westminster of government representatives which took place ahead of an extraordinary cabinet meeting being held by Theresa May this evening.

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford attended the talks for the Welsh Government. After the meeting he told me he warned UK ministers that their proposals on migration would be 'damaging to the United Kingdom, damaging to Wales and that they must think again.'

Tourists and visitors making short trips to the UK from low-risk countries would be dealt with swiftly through electronic visa checks under the plans Credit: PA Images

The Prime Minister announced high-skilled workers will be given priority over those who head to the UK for low-paid jobs under new immigration rules after Brexit.

Mr Drakeford told ITV News and the distinction between "high and low skills is a false one".

That doesn't work for Wales and in any case the distinction between high and low skills is a false one. People who work in our care services for example, they do vital work, they do really important work and they would not be captured by the UK's definition of a high skilled job. Mark Drakeford AM, Finance Secretary

His Scottish counterpart, Mike Russell said that he told the Joint Ministerial Council meeting that the UK Government's plans would be 'disastrous' but claimed it was 'a bit of a dialogue of the deaf.'

However Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns described the meeting as 'positive opportunity to come together to consider and challenge each other's thinking.'

He dismissed what he called 'press speculation' about the closeness or otherwise of a deal with the European Union and said he'd be going into the cabinet briefing this afternoon looking to hear that three tests would be met: a trading relationship with the EU, chance for the UK to strike its own trade deals and a solution to the Northern Ireland border problem.

Negotiations are what they are. There's lots of speculation in the press. We have [today] given an update to the devolved administrations. We remain optimistic that we will work to get a deal during the autumn months. Alun Cairns MP, Secretary of State for Wales

Also speaking outside the meeting in London, Mark Drakeford, who's running to become the next Welsh Labour leader and consequently the next First Minister, said the Prime Minister still has a chance to win the support of Labour MPs for her Brexit deal.

He told me that if any deal passes the six tests set out by Keir Starmer, Labour MPs will vote for it when it's debated by the House of Commons.