PRITI Patel has lashed out once again at Scottish councils over their failure to take part in an asylum scheme.

The Home Secretary was challenged over her reported plans to bring in the military to help push back asylum seekers who attempt to cross the Channel in small boats, and use third countries such as Rwanda and Ghana as offshore detention facilities.

The SNP’s shadow Home Secretary Stuart McDonald MP said Ms Patel should be ashamed of the plans, and said they were nothing but an attempt to save Boris Johnson from resignation over partygate.

It has been claimed that government ministers are lining up to announce a host of new policies this week, in what is being called ‘Operation Red Meat’, in an attempt to appease disgruntled Tory MPs and voters.

However when criticised for the new policies which are set to be announced later today, Ms Patel said she would take no lectures from an SNP MP when almost all Scottish councils did not offer dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers.

It is the third time the Home Secretary has made the criticism in the past several months.

Mr McDonald said: “What the Home Secretary should have pointed out is, unlike the endless Downing Street parties, arriving in the UK to claim asylum is not unlawful as a Court of Appeal reminded her just last month.”

He said the government’s “atrocious anti-refugee Bill” would result in “Afghans, Syrians and Uighurs arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for up to four years” and asked: “ Why does she see relentless flouting of lockdown rules as forgivable for the Prime Minister, but seeking asylum here from Assad the Taliban or genocide as worth four years in prison?”

Ms Patel accused the SNP of deploying “political gimmicks” to “frustrate the will of the public when it comes to reforming asylum” and reiterated her commitment to “do everything possible to tackle the unscrupulous exploitation of people who cross illegally but also at the same time provide sanctuary to those that need our help and support.”

She added: “Quite frankly, when local authorities in Scotland are not even helping to assist in the accommodation of these people. I'll take no lectures from the [SNP].”

Mr McDonald said her explanation was “about as convincing as the Prime Minister’s apology” on the lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street, and added: “ She's the first person to be sent out to the despatch box to further Operation Red Meat.

“The proposals have absolutely nothing to do with saving lives and everything to do with saving the Prime Minister's career and her own political career.”