SCOTTISH ministers were urged today to challenge the widely condemned Illegal Migration Bill to prevent creating a two-tier system for protecting trafficking survivors and unaccompanied child refugees.

A legal opinion by Kay Springham KC, carried out on behalf of human rights organisations, has concluded the government’s proposed crackdown on refugees entering Britain illegally, would infringe on devolved legislation.

She said it would interfere with Scottish ministers’ ability to support victims by cutting across adult and child protection frameworks.

And she urged First Minister Humza Yousaf to “lead from the front” to deliver an “urgent, concrete and commensurate” response and said a failure to act would “risk breaching international human rights obligations.”

Ms Springham’s research was conducted on behalf of Scotland’s Children and Young People’s Commissioner, JustRight Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council.

Acting Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland Nick Hobbs urged Holyrood to “mitigate the worst attacks on children's rights that are in this Bill.”

He said it would create a “two-tier approach which seeks to deny them access to protection and support under the Scottish trafficking, welfare and child protection systems.”

Jen Ang of JustRight Scotland said Scottish ministers would be at “immediate risk of breaching international human rights law if they fail to act to stem the significant harms threatened by the Bill.”

Migration minister for the Scottish government Emma Roddick said Holyrood opposed the Bill “which clearly violates human rights obligations and will push some of society’s most vulnerable people deeper into exploitation and destitution.”

The Home Office said: “While we are committed to creating more routes to safety for vulnerable people across the globe, we must grip the rise in illegal migration and stop the boats.”

The Bill, dubbed by campaigners as the “anti-refugee Bill” is making its way through the House of Lords.