THE UK Government has dismissed claims Scotland could attempt to “emulate” freedom of movement by setting up its own visa system after Brexit.

Ben Macpherson, the SNP’s migration minister, said a separate Scottish visa regime could scrap UK-wide plans for a salary threshold for EU migrants as well as removing existing caps and charges.

He said “more and more” businesses are open to the idea, while discussions with the UK Government are “making traction”. The new visa system could eventually expand beyond the EU, he said.

READ MORE: SNP minister: Post-Brexit Scottish visa system could emulate freedom of movement

But Scottish Secretary David Mundell later ruled this out – while admitting the current blueprints require more flexibility to address Scotland’s needs.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid unveiled plans for the UK’s post-Brexit immigration policy last year, ending freedom of movement and setting a minimum salary threshold of £30,000 for skilled workers seeking a five-year visa.

But critics branded the proposals “cruel and stupid” after research revealed 1.5 million jobs in Scotland fall under this barrier.

Mr Macpherson said Scotland could beat its own path by scrapping any salary threshold and emulating EU rules around freedom of movement.

And he insisted the “capacity and opportunity of designing the rules and criteria of a Scottish visa could allow us to expand it beyond the EU”.

Speaking after an event at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, he said ministers were proposing “a Scottish visa within a UK framework”, adding: “This would be an additional route, based on residency – so the individual would have to be working and living in Scotland.

“And it would be in conjunction with the UK Government, because Border Force would still be reserved, but we would set the rules and criteria of that visa through the Scottish Parliament.

“And the reason we should do that is because that would give us the best visa to fit the needs of Scotland.

“We could decide to have a lower salary threshold, we could decide to have no salary threshold, we could decide not to have an immigration skills charge, we could decide if we wanted to emulate freedom of movement from the EEA [European Economic Area].”

“So those decisions would be made by the Scottish Parliament, and we will be coming forward with further technical detail on that in due course.”

Mr Macpherson added: “Currently the UK Government has a cap on numbers but that hasn’t worked, and actually we need to grow our population in Scotland so these are matters that we could decide in terms of the rules and criteria that we would set here in Scotland.”

He continued: “We could decide not to cap from the EEA. Those are decisions that we could decide. The whole point of a Scottish visa is that we would create the rules and criteria here in Scotland.”

Mr Macpherson, the SNP minister for Europe, migration and international development, said he had engaged with UK immigration minister Caroline Nokes “in good faith and in a constructive manner” on the issue.

“If the UK Government wants to have a more restrictive approach for the rest of the UK, that is their choice – a wrong choice in my view, but that is their choice,” he said. “But it’s certainly the wrong choice for Scotland.”

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However, at an event later in the day, Mr Mundell ruled out a separate Scottish system, which would require powers to be devolved to Holyrood.

He said the UK Government’s current plans were a consultation and not a fixed position, adding: “It is clear, for example, that the £30,000 cap is not appropriate to Scotland, given the levels of income here.

“There has to be far more flexibility within the system and I think each of the current candidates to be the leader of the Conservative Party, next Prime Minister, have indicated that they are going to take a flexible approach.

“What we don’t agree with is that there should be a separate Scottish system, because some of the issues that are very prevalent in Scotland also affect other parts of the UK.”

He added: “I’m ruling out a separate Scottish visa system, but what I am ruling in is a new system that works for Scotland and meets Scotland’s needs in terms of depopulation, in terms of demography, in terms of getting people into the soft fruit industry, into agriculture, and not having restrictions like the £30,000 limit, having more extensive visas than might have been set out in the white paper.”