Home Secretary is the key to shameful lock-change orders
THE past week has been like a roller coaster for about 300 asylum seekers in Glasgow who were told by a private housing provider that they faced eviction because they had been refused asylum.
The move by the contractors Serco – who have a direct contract with the UK Home Office for the provision of accommodation – rightly caused outrage in Glasgow and led to a public demonstration on Buchanan Street.
At the time of writing this, Serco have said they will “pause” issuing lock-change orders and will not begin enforcing them until ongoing court action has clarified the position.
This is a welcome move. It’s a climb-down – albeit a temporary one – after public pressure from campaigners.
People were rightly outraged when Serco announced they would start evicting asylum seekers who had not been granted refugee status by the Home Office.
Although Glasgow is a dispersal city, the council, unlike English local authorities, do not receive any funds from the Home Office. These people are extremely vulnerable. Many of them came to Scotland fleeing persecution. They are often isolated and afraid, with no support network or friends or family that they can rely on.
Many of them do not speak English, have no money or contacts and nowhere to go.
Yet Glasgow City Council are legally unable to help them directly with
THE UK Government’s own analysis says it would be a bad move to leave the EU without a deal. But Scots Tory MP Ross Thomson makes the case for a no-deal scenario because – wait for it – the UK would otherwise be tied to EU regulation on hoovers. Nothing about the economy, the rights of EU nationals, or selling out health and safety regulations – just hoovers and how they could be more powerful after we leave the EU. I’m sure his Remain-voting constituents appreciate his concerns.
accommodation or funds. That is another Home Office rule. My colleague Susan Aitken, the SNP leader of Glasgow City Council, is right to warn of a “humanitarian disaster” in the city.
Susan was right to demand that Home Secretary Sajid Javid tells Serco to stop the threat of evictions with immediate effect and work with the council to ensure this can never happen again.
Companies who bid for these contracts with the UK Government are obliged to protect the vulnerable and to keep service users safe.
Changing locks on people’s accommodation and threatening to make them destitute is inexcusable.
But while the Home Office refuse to fund either the council or Serco, it is the people living in fear of the possibility of being kicked out on to the street who are left in limbo and at risk. This cannot and must not go ahead. Javid has a letter from Glasgow City councillors and MPs across the political parties, asking him to instruct Serco to reverse this policy.
He needs to do that and solve this problem for the long term by starting to fund Scottish local authorities in the same way as he does down south.
If he doesn’t, I have no doubt the people of Glasgo w will continue to stand up for these vulnerable people to ensure these mass evictions do not go ahead.