SNP accused of 'kettling' asylum seekers into Glasgow's poorest areas

Glasgow South West’s MP Dr Zubir Ahmed says his constituency has the largest number of asylum cases in Scotland, and has blamed the Scottish Government’s asylum policy for fuelling tensions in the community.

Posting on X, he said: “I deal with the most asylum casework in Scotland.

“The SNP homeless policy kettles asylum seekers to the poorest parts of Glasgow, looks the other way and leaves communities in the lurch. [It is] not fair on new or old Scots.”

It comes after his colleague Joani Reid, the Labour MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, caused widespread anger with comments on social media about the SNP’s asylum policy.

Speaking on X, she said: “The SNP are taking the biscuit. They chose to turn Glasgow into [a] sanctuary for asylum seekers through their own virtue-signalling policies, and now they want the Home Office to bail them out.”

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Ms Reid added: “It’s the same old story - grandstanding about compassion, then crying foul when the bill arrives.

“Real leadership means planning ahead and building enough homes, not blaming Westminster every time their own posturing backfires.”

The most recent figures show Glasgow City Council hosted more asylum seekers than any other local authority in the UK. The majority of these asylum seekers are living in long-term accommodation, costing the council an additional £66 million in housing costs a year.

As of June this year, Glasgow hosted 3,844 asylum seekers. Birmingham was second with 2,755 and London Hillingdon was third with 2,481.

There was no other Scottish town or city in the top 20.

A UK parliamentary report last month said Glasgow had around 59 asylum seekers per 10,000 inhabitants.

Last year more than 108,000 people claimed asylum in the UK, the highest number since records began in 1979. The cost of the asylum seeker system has risen to £5.4 billion.

However MPs from other parts of Scotland are also echoing this criticism made by Dr Ahmed and Ms Reid.

Chris Murray, MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, said the housing emergency in the capital is down to 17 years of “disastrous” SNP policies, leading to “more homeless children in Edinburgh than in the whole of Wales”.

Mr Murray added: “I’ve worked on asylum issues for 15 years.

“Zubir and Joani are right - the SNP created a housing crisis, slashed council budgets and turned to gestures when reform and investment were needed.

“The vulnerable lose out and community tensions rise as the SNP duck their responsibility.”

Senior figures within the SNP have criticised the comments made by the three Scottish Labour MPs, saying the party is trying to “out-Reform Farage”.

SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart MP said: “Glasgow is being punished for doing the right thing.”

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken added: “More disgraceful misinformation from a Labour MP about his own government’s policies.

“Zubir Ahmed must know that neither the Scottish Government nor Glasgow City Council has any say over where asylum seekers are housed.

“It’s entirely in the hands of Home Office private contractors.”

Last week she said Glasgow “has hosted asylum seekers and refugees for over two decades” and “it has immeasurably enriched our culture and economy”.

However, a spokesperson for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “Glasgow is rightly a welcoming city and has been for generations, but the SNP shouldn’t be trying to exploit the current situation to cover for their own political failures.

“It is the SNP that has created the homelessness crisis and the housing crisis in Glasgow, and it is the SNP Scottish Government that has cut Glasgow’s services to the bone.

"It is right that the UK Labour government clears up the asylum mess left by the Tories, speeds up claims and ends the use of asylum hotels started by the Tories.”