George Osborne has been accused of giving a “shameful” response to the situation of a seven-year-old boy who faces being deported from the Highlands with his family.

The Chancellor was confronted with the case of Gaelic-speaker Lachlan Brain, who came to Scotland with his Australian family as part of a government scheme yet is set to be thrown out of the country next week.

Stepping in for David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Chancellor appeared to dismiss the Brain family’s situation and instead suggested the SNP should do more themselves to create “an entrepreneurial Scotland where people want to move to from the rest of the United Kingdom”.

Mr Osborne seemed to know nothing about the case, the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson said, despite it receiving “wall-to-wall” coverage in Scotland.

And a spokesperson for the SNP told The Independent it was “dire” for the Prime Minister’s stand-in to wash his hands of the situation by raising Scotland’s fiscal autonomy.

Carol Monaghan, the SNP member for Glasgow North West, accused the Home Secretary Theresa May of “smirking away” as the Brain family case was raised, describing what she saw in the Commons as “disgusting”.

Mr Osborne said Ms May would write to the SNP “on the specific case”, saying simply: “But as I understand it the family doesn't meet the immigration criteria.”

He added: “Can I make a suggestion to the Scottish Nationalist Party?

“They now have very substantial tax and enterprise powers, and if they want to attract people to the Highlands, why don’t they create an entrepreneurial Scotland where people want to move to from the rest of the United Kingdom where they can grow their business and have a successful life?”

Mr Robertson said the response was “shameful and frankly not good enough”.

Lachlan Brain attends the Gaelic-medium primary school in Dingwall, Mr Robertson said, and faces deportation “despite his family arriving as part of a Scottish Government initiative, backed by the Home Office, to attract people to live and work in the region”.

His family came to the Highlands in 2011, but were told they could not stay after Lachlan's mother Kathryn completed a four-year degree in Scottish history and archaeology.

“Cases like this… make it extremely difficult for Scotland to remain an attractive destination for the brightest and best from around the world,” he said.

“Appeals have been made to the Home Secretary to allow the Brain family to stay. There have been interventions by the First Minister, by the local MP, by the local MSP, by community members.

“The problem of the Highlands has not been unwanted immigration it has been emigration. Even at this late stage will the Chancellor, the Home Secretary and Government look again at this case and let the Brain family stay in the Highlands?”