Glasgow has so many asylum seekers 'because other councils haven't stepped up', says Home Secretary

Shabana Mahmood said she was looking to “reduce the pressure” on Scotland’s biggest city in housing asylum seekers.

She was speaking at the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

The latest UK Government figures showed that Glasgow has the highest number of asylum seekers in the UK, at 3,938.

This is much higher than Birmingham on 2,136, Liverpool on 1,961 and Coventry on 1,700.

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Responding to a question from East Kilbride MP Joani Reid, Ms Mahmood said: “Just on Glasgow specifically, as I said before, very much recognise those challenges partly borne out because other local authorities in Scotland haven't stepped up to play their full part to enable a fairer distribution across the whole of Scotland.

“There hasn't been any new procurement of the new asylum accommodation in Glasgow since 2024, and let me say to you that as we as we go for a fairer spread, and we've renegotiated the rates we pay in some areas to bring in the ability to move out to slightly more affluent areas as well.

“So as we do that, I am looking to reduce the pressure on places that are way above their allocation to bring that down in a sustained way, so that every area is paying its full part.

“And as I say, as we move to more military sites and then also more medium-sized sites, I wanted to again alleviate that pressure, and I will be targeting the areas that are above allocation to be first in line to see those reductions.”

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Labour MP Ms Reid had asked the Home Secretary about the “pressure” on Glasgow over asylum seekers.

It comes after her Labour colleague and Glasgow South West MP Zubir Ahmed wrote to the Home Secretary asking her to pause housing asylum seekers in the city.

Dr Ahmed warned that the city needed some “breathing space” after doing its “fair share” housing asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Andy Burham has said that he wants to provide a “circuit breaker” for councils.

Dr Ahmed said this was needed in Glasgow. He also called for the local connection rule to be reintroduced. It 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 having any local connection.

Earlier this month, new Glasgow City Council leader Ricky Bell said the city is "carrying the burden" of housing refugees for the "whole of Scotland".

He said the council either needs more money or a change in law to house people outside of the city.

Nearly half of Glasgow’s 3,895 homelessness applications between April and September 2025 were from people with refugee status or leave to remain.

Mr Bell told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: "The government either needs to change the legislation or fund the outcomes of that legislation, and at the moment we're in the middle of that and they're doing neither."