Exclusive:Glasgow council leader urged to 'be braver' and 'stand up' to SNP government over refugee housing
Ricky Bell has been told by Scotland’s only non-white MP that failing to do so ‘is basically putting minorities like the one I am from the in firing line’
Glasgow City Council’s new leader has been urged to “be braver” and “stand up” to the Scottish government over housing refugees.
Ricky Bell has been told by Scotland’s only non-white MP that failing to do so “is basically putting minorities like the one I am from the in firing line”.
Mr Bell - who became SNP leader of Scotland’s biggest local authority last week - has backed calls for a pause in housing asylum seekers in the city.
But Labour MP Zubir Ahmed said he should ask the Scottish government for “the power to put in local connections and priority need.”
Dr Ahmed, who represents Glasgow South West, said the lack of a local connection rule “is a big part of the reason why people get on trains and turn up to community centres and mosques in Glasgow from other cities asking to be put up”.
Glasgow has the highest number of asylum seekers in the UK at 3,938, according to UK government figures.
This is much higher than Birmingham on 2,136, Liverpool on 1,961 and Coventry on 1,700.
Dr Ahmed told The Scotsman: “Pausing asylum seekers is one third of the issue. Why doesn't Ricky Bell ask the Scottish government for the power to put in local connections and priority need?
“This is a big part of the reason why people get on trains and turn up to community centres and mosques in Glasgow from other cities asking to be put up because they've been sold that Glasgow will do that.
“A pause without preparing the ground is like paper mashing the structural cracks in our city's housing policy.
“He needs to be braver and be prepared to stand up for Glasgow to the Scottish government.
“If he doesn't, and continues to parrot lines like ‘we are welcoming’ without preparing for the welcome, he is basically putting minorities like the one I am from in the firing line. I won't let the SNP use minority communities like mine as a shield against poor policy.
“He is a leader of the flagship council for Scotland. It should be in his DNA that want more control over housing policy to serve local need. Every one of my constituents from every community need him to show some mettle.”
The local connection rule for homelessness applications in Scotland was scrapped in 2022, but is still in place south of the Border.
It means that an asylum seeker can make a homelessness application in any council without any link to the place where they are applying.
The council leader told STV News: “What we’ve called for is a pause. I don’t think we need to stop altogether, but I think we need a pause to get us into a better situation to be able to cope with.
“There are neighbouring authorities round about Glasgow who’ve got empty homes just now, and we’ve got a queue of people looking for homes. We could move some of those people and that would help the situation immediately.
“Let’s make sure we get this done properly so it’s a good experience for Glaswegians and for the people that are coming to the country.”
He added that the lack of a local connection rule is not “sustainable” and that Glasgow is “basically carrying the burden of homelessness for the whole of Scotland.”
In a later statement, Cllr Bell added: “Mr Ahmed hasn’t been paying attention. These are exactly the conversations that I’ve been having with Ministers.
“I’d also like to have a conversation with his colleagues in Westminster, but they have turned a deaf ear to Glasgow – perhaps because Labour’s leader in the city admits that neither he or any of his colleagues have even attempted to raise this issue.
“I have, repeatedly – and I’m hopeful Andy Burham, who experienced many of the same challenges as a city leader in Greater Manchester, will understand them better than his local MPs.”
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