Yousaf urged to house more asylum seekers

First minister humza yo us af has been urged to commit to housing more asylum seeker sin scotland by home secretary James Cleverly–who suggested refugees could stay on a cruise ship in Edinburgh.

In a letter dated February 16, Mr cleverly said scotland had taken proportionately half the number of asylum seekers given accommodation in England, and asked that efforts were made to “rapidly” increase asylum accommodation north of the border. Mr Cleverly said “greater parity” was needed to be achieved across theuk regions to provide “fair and equitable” asylum accommodation, and asked to revisit options in Scotland, “such as our plans last summer to use MS Victoria in Edinburgh”.

The cruise ship was used by the Scottish Government to temporarily house Ukrainian refugees, from July 2022 until July 2023.

The Home Secretary cited a speech made by Mr Yousaf, which pledged “the Scottish Government – and the SNP – will always say we are proud of the benefits migrants bring to this country”.

Mr Cleverly wrote that Scotland currently houses eight asylum seekers for every 10,000 people – less than Wales, and half the 16 in England, and urged Mr Yousaf to “continue to work together to help address the challenges we collectively face”.

He also cited speeches by others np politicians, including Alison Thewl is sM P– who said recently that Scotland “will take our responsibilities seriously” while criticising the UK Government.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Home Office is responsible for provision of asylum accommodation, including hotels procured as contingency initial asylum accommodation.scotland has consistently played its part in supporting asylum dispersal since it was introduced over two decades ago.”