SCOTLAND will become a �retirement home sitting on the edge of Europe� unless radical measures are implemented to welcome new migrants.

SCOTLAND will become a "retirement home sitting on the edge of Europe" unless radical measures are implemented to welcome new migrants, according to the head of Scotland's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

In her first full interview since taking office, Morag Alexander, Scotland's EHRC commissioner, called for a national debate on what needs to be done to encourage people to settle in Scotland.

A new report commissioned by the EHRC, due to be published next month to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, questions whether Scotland can implement the changes required while immigration remains a reserved matter.

Speaking exclusively to The Herald, Ms Alexander said: "This is the kind of debate we need to have in Scotland if we are to remain competitive. One-third of births in Scotland are to Eastern European mothers. We need to think about whether we need to have in place some kind of variation in immigration rules here because Scotland's position is so very different to that of the South East and London.

"If we don't get this right we are going to fall below the five million mark in the next 20 years, with the age profile of the country raising concerns about whether we can be a viable nation or will become some kind of retirement home sitting on the edge of Europe."

The draft report by Dr Sarah Kyambi, consultant on immigration and integration policy and deputy director of the David Hume Institute, comes a decade after the inquiry by Sir William MacPherson into the murder of the black teenager concluded that the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist" and made 70 recommendations.

The report raises a number of questions that the commissioner hopes will form part of the national debate on the issue. It suggests a number of "soft levers" to overcome barriers to employment for new migrants, including speedier recognition of qualifications and better access to English language classes.

Previous research by Robert Wright at Strathclyde University warns that without migration to counter the effects of Scotland's declining population, the working age population will shrink by 12.8%, GDP by 6.4%, employment by 6.9% and competitiveness by 2.8% by 2031.

Ms Alexander added: "What we need is to offer people the kind of welcome that we think we give to new citizens and new migrants, rather than the welcome we actually offer.

As the police say, it's about addressing behaviour from policy to pavement - not just about having a policy in place.

"The police have done a lot and the situation has changed significantly since the MacPherson report, but there are still problems with them and other bodies in terms of the canteen culture.

"There is still a problem in Scotland of people knowing what is right but not doing it. We have moved on but we don't think any of the public bodies are doing enough across the board to ensure equality in terms of race, gender, age and disability."

The day before Barack Obama's inauguration, she also questioned how Scotland could ever hope to have a first minister from a black or minority ethnic background when there is only one MSP from an ethnic minority background.

Ms Alexander's comments chimed yesterday with those of Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission for the UK, who said there was still work to do but added that he believed Britain was in a "different place" since the 1999 inquiry.