Scotland has a proud tradition of offering asylum
Scotland has long provided a welcome to refugees and asylum seekers.
We helped house Jewish families who came here escaping the Nazis during World War II.
Later, we took in Ugandan Asians expelled by the dictator Idi Amin, and Chileans who fled a military coup.
It was in that same spirit that, at the turn of the century Glasgow signed up to a dispersal scheme to provide a home and support for people seeking asylum from all over the world.
Contrast this with the kind of attitude toward asylum seekers we’ve seen from UK Conservative politicians.
Theresa May, during her time as Home Secretary before becoming Prime Minister, played her part in stirring up hatred over asylum seekers and pandering to white supremacists by stating that Britain has never been a country of immigrants.
The human impact of the UK Government’s ‘hostile environment’ is being clearly felt locally as a number of people hoping to make their home here face being thrown out of the country by a heartless Home Office and an indifferent private firm doing their bidding.
For example, housing provider Serco was exposed over the summer for threatening to change people’s locks caused total panic amongst Glasgow’s 5000 asylum-seekers, and led to understandable anger amongst the wider community.
Making hundreds of vulnerable individuals destitute would spark a humanitarian crisis, as Glasgow City Council would be legally prevented from housing people, and local charities would not have the capacity to cope.
Since then we’ve learned that Serco plans to use Glasgow hotels when it is unable to find suitable flats for asylum seekers. Previous use of hotels resulted in vulnerable people sharing rooms for months on end in low-quality accommodation with no cooking or washing facilities.
Dispersal of refugees has to be properly resourced if it is to work, both for the refugees themselves and for the local communities where they are accommodated.
Resources must include
Dispersal of refugees has to be properly resourced if it is to work, both for the refugees themselves and for local communities