By Steve Bargeton, political editor

FIRST MINISTER Jack McConnell was last night under pressure to make a statement to MSPs after apparently being rebuffed in his efforts to get a special deal for asylum seekers in Scotland.

Last week he told MSPs the Executive was hoping to reach agreement with the Home Office on the involvement of education and social services in cases where young children were involved in so-called “dawn raids” by immigration officials.

But yesterday at a briefing in Glasgow, Home Office officials dismissed any suggestion of a deal for Scotland. Later, in an attempt to clarify the situation, Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said any changes would apply across the UK.

“We have had a series of constructive discussions with the Scottish Executive about involving social work and education services in advance of removing failed asylum seekers where children are involved.” he said. “Those discussions are ongoing.

“As we have always made clear, any changes we may make would be UK-wide. The Home Secretary has made this clear in discussions with the First Minister.”

The First Minister’s official spokesman said Mr McConnell had never tried to make Scotland a special case. He said, “We have not and never have been arguing for special treatment for asylum seekers in Scotland.”

But that is not the way opposition MSPs see it.

SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon said, “Jack McConnell stated to the Scottish Parliament in September that ‘a clear protocol should be established’ and that (Home Secretary) Charles Clarke and he had agreed that ‘the establishment of such an agreement in Scotland and, perhaps, elsewhere would be advisable’,” she said.

“It now appears that the First Minster is at best muddled over the Home Office’s position.

“They have made it clear this morning that no special measures, far less an official protocol, will be implemented in Scotland.

“The First Minister must now make a statement to Parliament to clear up the glaring discrepancies between his statements and those of the Home Office. We need to know if the First Minister was misinformed or if he misled Parliament.”

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said she was “astonished” at yesterday’s developments.

“I am astonished that there does not appear to be any protocol between the First Minister and his Government at Westminster when last Thursday in this Parliament he said that discussions were continuing and they hoped to reach an agreement soon. He made clear he wasn’t talking about ‘if’ but ‘when’,” she said.

“What today’s development shows loud and clear is that the First Minister has no status, no stature and no authority with his colleagues in Westminster.

“I think that is extremely serious, not just in relation to the subject under discussion here—which is how we deal in a sensitive, compassionate manner with children of asylum seekers who are being deported—but on the wider issue of the whole relationship between Edinburgh and London.

“Quite simply I think this is a very negative step in our progress, indicating as it does that Labour at Westminster and the Lib-Lab coalition at Holyrood are incapable of forging a healthy, positive relationship.” She added, “Do we or do we not have a Scottish protocol?”