Priti blasts SNP for not ‘lifting a finger’ to offer asylum seekers proper homes
Row in Commons over dispersal
SCOTLAND is not doing enough to help with accommodation for asylum seekers, according to the Home Secretary.
Priti Patel yesterday hit out at the Scottish Government and local authority chiefs for not ‘pulling their weight’.
During a heated debate in the House of Commons, Miss Patel accused First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of failing to ‘lift a finger’ to help support those who are seeking asylum in the UK.
It came as she was being quizzed by Nationalist MP Stuart McDonald about the use of hotel and barracks-style accommodation.
He asked why the Home Office was still placing large numbers of
‘We must ditch ludicrous idea’
those looking for refuge in ‘unsuitable hotels in inappropriate locations without so much as notifying the relevant local authority’.
Mr McDonald called for a return to ‘community dispersal of asylum seekers across the country’.
He said: ‘We need to ditch this ludicrous and dangerous idea that hotels are some sort of luxury for asylum seekers, when for very many the opposite is the case.’
He added: ‘The Home Secretary knows that increased hotel use has seen increased deaths in the asylum accommodation system.’
In response, Miss Patel said ministers and council bosses north of the Border were failing to support asylum seekers.
She said: ‘Local authorities around the country and in particular in Scotland have not played their part in actually offering dispersal accommodation.
‘He should be ashamed of himself to come to make that point when the Scottish Government has done absolutely nothing to lift a finger in terms of actually supporting the policy of dispersal accommodation.’
The Home Secretary said 31 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities have refused to participate in the dispersal scheme.
She added: ‘When it comes to changes to asylum accommodation the whole of the United Kingdom needs to step up.’
Last year, three asylum seekers in Glasgow died – Adnan Walid Elbi, Badreddin Abadlla Adam and Mercy Baguma.
Adam, 28, from Sudan, was shot dead by police after stabbing six people at the city centre Park Inn hotel, where asylum seekers were living as a ‘temporary measure’ during the pandemic.
Refugee charity Positive Action in Housing claimed that conditions in the hotel were ‘desperate and vulnerable’.
In August last year, the body of Miss Baguma, 34, from Uganda, was found in Govan after her toddler son was heard crying.
At the time, Positive Action in Housing said Miss Baguma had claimed asylum and was living in ‘extreme poverty’. Her son was taken to hospital and discharged to his father.
Also, in May last year, Mr Elbi, 30, was found dead from a drugs overdose at McLays Guest House in Renfrew Street. SNP home affairs spokesman Mr McDonald said Miss Patel’s comments were ‘outrageous’.
He said: ‘Every local authority in Scotland is anxious to play its part in resettling refugees.
‘When it comes to dispersal accommodation, Glasgow has stepped up to the plate while other local authorities are withdrawing from the scheme... quite rightly because the Home Office refuses to put in place support which requires them to do that.’