John McTernan, the prime minister’s political secretary, said Holyrood should concentrate on making good use of existing powers and described the demand for more as "very strange".
He also suggested that Jack McConnell should adopt a more Blairite approach to improve Scotland’s education system through the introduction of city academies. The first minister has ordered his policy advisers to review the devolution settlement nearly seven years after the first Holyrood election. The review is expected to examine issues such as taxation, nuclear power and asylum.
McConnell has already clashed with UK ministers over the enforced removal of asylum seekers, the refusal to introduce tougher gun laws for Scotland and over the limits of his Fresh Talent scheme. Last week he was at odds with Gordon Brown, the chancellor, over whether there would be an increase in tolls for the Forth Road Bridge, when Brown announced that the plan had been scrapped.
McTernan, who was taking part in a think tank debate on what Scotland might be like in 2026, said he did not believe there was a case to be made for further powers until Holyrood could show "that it has effectively used the whole extent of the ones it has at the moment".
He added: "I think the debate about extra powers is one that if you pick anybody at random out of the public — unless you alight upon researchers from the Scottish parliament — they would think it was a very strange question to ask. It’s not necessary given the areas where we would want greater autonomy are currently within the powers of the parliament.
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"In terms of whether we would need control over tax-raising power, no we don’t because the issue is about the allocation of public expenditure. The debate about fiscal autonomy is sterile. The question should be about getting greater value for money."
McTernan, a former adviser to Henry McLeish, said he no longer subscribed to the view that Scotland should go its own way on key policy issues. "I know we used ‘Scottish solutions to Scottish problems’ in the 1999 manifesto but it is very hard outside of Caledonian MacBrayne (the ferry company) to identify specifically Scottish problems. From the detachment of living in London I am now more worried about what you might call the fallacy of right sizeness."
McConnell is resisting the idea of city academies, which use private funds and expertise, despite offers of support from Irvine Laidlaw, one of the country’s richest men. After being rebuffed by the executive, Laidlaw decided to sponsor a £20m academy in Newcastle.
McTernan said choice and diversity in education were crucial. "They (Scottish parents) don’t have as diverse a range of school providers as there will be in England over the next few years. I think one of the consequences of seeing what city academies and diverse providers of schools do for working-class achievement will be that there will be pressure here to have that kind of choice."
He also claimed Scotland was not being properly marketed internationally as a place for entrepreneurs to live. "There is no attempt by the country to project itself as a place to come to because of the quality of life. It is still in an industrial frame of mind, thinking about the location of industries when actually you should be looking for the owners of the intellectual capital.
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"Few people, unless they have a Scottish connection, choose to move to Scotland and that’s partly because there’s no attempt by our country to get the sort of people who come to visit Scotland to see that it’s a good place to locate yourself and run a European or global business."
Responsibility for attracting entrepreneurs to Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish executive and McConnell regards his Fresh Talent initiative, which aims to encourage people around the world to make Scotland their home, as one of his best policies.
McTernan later said his comments were not intended as a criticism of McConnell and that he was not trying to interfere in devolved affairs. He said Fresh Talent was a laudable project which could be built upon.
But Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, said McTernan’s remarks were "extraordinary" and added: "They demonstrate that for Labour power brokers in London devolution is little more than a facade to keep the natives happy. Jack McConnell’s political masters are expecting their Scottish puppet to dance to their tune."