Refugees are welcome in Scotland - these racist attitudes should be sent home

Asylum hotels are a bad thing. Nigel Farage has said it, the most bleeding heart leftie would agree.

Of course, the difference is the left is concerned with the substandard living conditions in hotels and the vast financial inefficiency of hotel accommodation.

The right’s problem is the asylum seekers themselves.

It has become the standard political position of the centre and centre left to be patiently understanding of the concerns - dare we use the phrase “legitimate concerns” - of voters who are falling for the right-wing narrative that all British ills are the fault of immigrants.

I read an op-ed recently that criticised Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and First Minister John Swinney for “talking down” to voters about Reform UK. I don’t see it.

I see politicians who are afraid to offend those who are switching their allegiance to the hard right. They have tried carefully to be sympathetic to the tangible concerns of these voters and have been explicit in expressing empathy and understanding.

It’s tricky to see any other way of doing it - the first whiff of criticism and the right has an easy attack line - “these out-of-touch elites don’t understand you”.

The outcome of this has led to a true irony. We can’t call racists racist in case it offends them.

And we can’t have much-needed conversations about Britain’s creaking asylum system in case it gives quarter to those who want a total block on refuge.

Glasgow has long struggled to cope with being Scotland’s main - for a long time, only - dispersal city in Scotland. The strain on the public purse and resources has been brushed over or discussed in hushed tones because it opens the door to those who want rid of asylum seekers entirely.

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Glasgow’s council leader Susan Aitken was obviously alert to that in an appeal earlier this week for increased Home Office support. In saying that Glasgow can no longer cope alone, she was careful to describe those involved in the Stockport riots last year as “cocaine-fuelled hooligans” and outline that 40 per cent of the men arrested - the ones claiming to be protecting women and girls - had domestic abuse convictions.

The political narrative here is vital. Last summer Scotland watched the Stockport riots with relief and some superiority - that sort of unrest would not happen here.

Of course, Scotland has had anti-immigration and anti-refugee protests and we are now seeing protests outside refugee hotels.

This is why we must always be careful of Scottish exceptionalism - it stops clear-eyed reflection of our flaws.

But some Scottish exceptionalism is justified here. Scotland has been fortunate to have a government that recognises the vital need for immigrants, that has a compassionate outlook on refugees and, crucially, says so loudly.

It has become acceptable to say there are too many refugees coming to this country. To those who say it, I wonder what they want. What do they think would be achieved by cutting our - already comparatively low - refugee numbers? Do they even know? I doubt they do.

While the left feels obliged to be respectful towards those who want us to eschew our legal and moral duties towards refugees, there is no such compassion being extended in return.

There is only anger. It’s not focused or coherent, it is pure mob anger whipped up by opportunists exploiting the frustrations of a cohort of people who see their political impotence and personal struggles as a form of victimhood.

Scotland should be better than that. It should be too exceptional for that. Take those attitudes and send them home.