ALISTAIR Carmichael has raised concerns about David Cameron's planned showdown with Brussels in order to impose tougher conditions on European migrants.
The Prime Minister's move comes amid fears about the number of Bulgarians and Romanians expected to come to Britain from January.
Mr Cameron is thought to considering extending from three months to a year the timescale migrants have to live in the UK before they can access benefits.
But the move could trigger a major clash with the European Commission, which prevents member states from discriminating between their own citizens and those from other European Union members.
Michael Gove, the Coalition Government's Education Secretary, insisted Mr Cameron had "struck exactly the right note on migration", namely to celebrate the achievements of migrants "but when it comes to new migrants from accession countries in the EU, we need to look properly at the benefits system here to make sure people are coming here to work and contribute, not to take advantage of what is rightly a generous welfare system".
Mr Carmichael appeared less enthusiastic about the PM's approach, stressing how the tougher benefit plans were still under consideration within the Coalition and that any such approach should be discussed in Europe first.
While he made clear he could "see the need for robust transitional arrangements", the Scottish Secretary added: "I would need to be persuaded of that but I am prepared to look at the whole situation in the round."
He warned: "Potentially, it might put us on the wrong side of the rest of the EU. As a member state, I don't want to find myself in that territory. It's something that we should be discussing with them, certainly."
Meantime, Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, acknowledged that the "pace of immigration was too fast, the level of immigration was too high" under Labour.
She said her party had suggested changes to the Jobseeker's Allowance in relation to migrants, which could have been made quickly.
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