Calls for Scotland to be given control over immigration have been rejected by a UK minster – who insisted the Scottish Government is pursuing the issue to "suit its agenda of separatism".

Immigration minister Kevin Foster made the provocative claim as he warned devolving powers on immigration could create "confusion" within the UK.

Scottish ministers have repeatedly argued different demographics north of the border mean control over immigration should be transferred to them.

But Foster said the UK Government is focused on establishing an "immigration system that provides success for Scotland".

Westminster is setting up a new points-based immigration system that will come into effect after the EU transition period ends, and Foster said he has been "directly engaging" with organisations in Scotland about the changes.

Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: "Our focus will be an immigration system that provides success for Scotland, that supports the strategy for the wider labour market, including getting people back into work who have been affected by Covid-19, not trying to separate the United Kingdom and put a border at Berwick.

"We don't think that having different immigration systems in different parts of the United Kingdom, literally putting an economic migration border across this island, would be a way of doing that. It would produce confusion."

Rejecting calls for the devolution of immigration, he added: "Just doing things on political boundaries, in terms of the Scottish Government to suit its agenda of separatism, is not for us."

He also said "senior care workers" would still qualify to come into the UK under the new points-based proposals.

Scottish ministers and leading figures in the care sector have called for more staff to be eligible for the new health and care visa, but Mr Foster argued the industry should not see bringing in workers from overseas as a "magic bullet" to deal with recruitment problems.

He added: "I think the lessons that have really come out over the last few months across the UK is the fact that we do need to increase the value of working in social care, we need to have proper career development plans and rewarding packages offered to staff."

He said the UK Migration Advisory Committee had "pointed directly to the fact that supermarket workers stacking shelves on the shop floor are being paid and valued more by those who work in our social care system", adding this is something the Government "need to work with employers on".

But he said: "The evidence given by the Migration Advisory Committee was quite clear that just providing employers with a route to minimum wage immigration on a global basis with no English language requirement would be the thing that would keep down wages within the sector, not get the type of packages that some really hard working people deserve."