The UK Government should "seriously consider" devolving immigration to the Scottish Parliament, a cross-party group of MPs has recommended.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration (APG) called on the Westminster government to establish an independent commission to investigate how a devolved immigration system might work.

Immigration policy and administration is currently set by the UK Government.

Before the EU referendum, prominent Leave campaigner and then justice minister Michael Gove said leaving the organisation could "potentially" lead to Holyrood receiving immigration powers.

Gove said: "Holyrood would be strengthened if we left the EU.

"The Scottish Parliament would have new powers over fishing, agriculture, over some social areas and potentially over immigration."

The suggestion was described as a "fib and a half" by the First Minister on Twitter.

The APG report says the current points-based system for non-EU immigration is "generally unresponsive to demographic, economic, and cultural differences between our constituent nations and regions".

It added: "This has led to friction between the Scottish and UK governments, as the former's aim of increasing immigration (in order to grow its labour force) has come into conflict with the Home Office's commitment to cut net immigration."

The group is chaired by Labour MP Chuka Umunna and has Conservative, SLP and DUP members, as well as an SNP MP, Stuart McDonald.

A UK Government spokesman said: "Our country has long been home to lots of different cultures and communities but all of us have to be part of one society - British society."

He added: "We must also recognise that uncontrolled, mass immigration makes it difficult to maintain social cohesion and puts pressure on public services.

"Our priority is to build an immigration system that works for everyone in the UK and delivers the control we need."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "It is widely regarded that Scotland's population needs are different to the rest of the UK's and we have consistently called on the UK Government to consider a more flexible approach, for example through the reintroduction of a post-study work route and most recently in Scotland's Place in Europe, the paper published last month on options to keep Scotland in the single market.

"These are not just the views of the Scottish Government, but have the support of stakeholders in higher education and business, and were also highlighted in the Scottish affairs committee's recent report on demography in Scotland."