Exclusive:Home Office 'should have the guts' to meet public over Cameron Barracks asylum seeker plan

Fergus Ewing said the UK government “should have the guts to put it to the people”.

Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire MP Angus MacDonald has meanwhile written to a Home Office minister asking them to visit Inverness.

Mr Ewing, the Independent MSP for Inverness and Nairn, said: “The Home Office should attend a meeting in Inverness and I’m sure the Highland Council would chair it.

“The Home Office has made this plan and should have the guts to put it to the people. My constituents have genuine concerns not borne of racism.

“My view is the Home Office and Scottish Government should sit round the table to devise a plan that treats asylum seekers humanely, but that Cameron Barracks is not an appropriate location.”

Mr MacDonald agreed there should be a public meeting.

He said: “I shall write to the Home Office Minister Alex Norris and ask him to come to Inverness and discuss their proposal in an open meeting. The Home Office did attend a meeting with Crowborough Barracks residents in Sussex, even though that site is not in the town centre.”

The UK Home Office announced last month that it planned to house 300 asylum seekers at the barracks in Inverness. Both Mr Ewing and Mr MacDonald are opposed to the idea because the barracks are close to the town centre.

Roughly 180 people gathered in Inverness town centre earlier this month to protest the plans. The demonstration was organised by a group called Inverness Against Illegal Migration, which asked people to “join us in protest to stop this mass invasion of illegal migrant men”.

In response there was a counter protest from the Stand Up to Racism Scotland group, which attracted around 120 people.

The protest followed anti-asylum seeker hotel demonstrations in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Falkirk earlier this year.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) told The Scotsman on Monday that it planned to host a summit “to reject disinformation” over the plans.

The STUC has invited the Home Office, Highland Council, the local MP and MSPs, NHS Highland and Police Scotland to a meeting in a bid to “counter the false narratives permeated by the far right”.

The union’s general secretary Roz Foyer warned the “far right” could not be allowed “to gain a foothold in our communities any further”.

Local Labour candidate Shaun Fraser labelled the plans to house asylum seekers at the site “bizarre” when they were announced last month.

But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended the decision in an interview with The Scotsman.

He said he was planning to house hundreds of men at Cameron Barracks “to get people out of hotels”.

Sir Keir said the UK government was “processing the claims to get people out of the country where they've got no right to be here”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels in this country. This government is working to move asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation, such as military bases, to help ease pressure on communities across the country.

“We will continue to work closely with local representatives and authorities throughout this transition.”