Stop sending asylum seekers to Glasgow because we can't afford them, says pro-immigration SNP council
Scotland's biggest council is calling for a pause in the number of asylum seekers being sent to the city after bosses warned that it does not have the room or cash to accommodate them.
SNP-run Glasgow City Council said it had asked the Home Office for a temporary halt to 'dispersals' to the city, which had created 'significant challenges and risks'.
John Swinney said the local authority was wrestling with a large 'volume of asylum applications without the resources from the Home Office to support and deal' with them.
The council said demand had surged in line with a rise in approved applications and that in more than half of cases it had been unable to provide emergency accommodation to those who needed it, which is a legal requirement.
The SNP 's policy of placing more onerous legal obligations on councils to house those threatened with homelessness is said to have added to the pressure on accommodation.
Glasgow City Council said 'for some time now (and certainly ramping up in late 2023), we have been trying to engage with the Home Office to address issues with the way asylum cases are processed and the knock-on impact on city services.
'As part of that, it has been mentioned, again for some time, by politicians that a temporary pause on dispersal might be one element of delivering sustainable asylum provision in Glasgow in the long term.'
Allan Casey, an SNP councillor and the city's homelessness convener, had hoped to discuss the issue this month with Angela Eagle, the Home Office minister, during her visit to the city and request urgent financial support, but Ms Eagle's trip was postponed and is still to be rescheduled.
The Times reported that meeting papers for the Glasgow City Integration Joint Board state that homelessness services are coming under pressure owing to 'a significant increase in positive leave-to-remain decisions for asylum seekers'.
An increase in demand 'as a result of the streamlined asylum process' means 'it is likely that [the council] will be unable to offer temporary accommodation on first request for all households'.
It is estimated that the cost of asylum-related expenses for 2024- 25 in the Glasgow city area alone was £26.5million.
The figure is expected to rise to £79million within three years.
The board has warned of 'significant challenges and risks currently facing homelessness services at this time in relation to the increase in demand for homelessness services and the number of households in temporary accommodation'.
Yesterday Mr Swinney said Glasgow City Council 'has been an incredibly accommodating place over many, many years', adding: 'The issue is that there isn't a commensurate support to the housing infrastructure that is coming for that area of activity.
'We have increased the budget for [affordable housing] in this financial year.
'But there is, I think, a reasonable point in the request that's been made by Glasgow City Council to the Home Office to support them in dealing with the implications of a policy issue which is entirely reserved [to the UK Government].'
In 2023, officials in Glasgow said the city risked 'social unrest' as council chiefs scrambled to find accommodation for refugees.
The UK Government was ramping up efforts to wade through a backlog of outstanding asylum applications at the time as pressure mounted on then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to tackle a massive build-up of cases.
City leaders raised fears of a 'humanitarian crisis' as hundreds of asylum seekers were given refugee status, putting an 'unprecedented' strain on housing and public services.
There were 4,193 asylum seekers receiving support in Glasgow at the end of last year.
In 2024, 84,200 applications for asylum were made in the UK, which related to 108,100 individuals (more than one applicant can be included in a single application).
This was the highest annual number of applications and applicants ever recorded.
Last night a UK Government spokesman said: 'Despite inheriting huge pressures on the asylum system, we are working to make sure individuals have the support they need following an asylum decision to help local authorities better plan their assistance with homelessness.
'We are working right across the UK to give councils as much notice as possible of newly recognised refugees, have doubled the move on period to 56 days and have mobilised liaison officers to support asylum seekers in Glasgow City Council area.'
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