The frontrunner to be the next leader of Glasgow City Council has said it is unfair Glasgow council tax payers are “carrying the burden” of housing refugees for the “whole of Scotland”.
Ricky Bell, currently deputy leader, said the council needed more funding or a change in the law that would see more people housed outside of the city.
Almost half of the 3,895 homelessness applications in Glasgow between April and September 2025 were from people with refugee status or leave to remain.
Bell told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: “The government either needs to change the legislation or fund the outcomes of that legislation, and at the moment we’re in the middle of that and they’re doing neither.”
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing Shirley-Anne Somerville said asylum accommodation was the responsibility of the Home Office, but they were aware of the pressure on the local authority.
Bell’s comments came as a report by the Accounts Commission identified a £110m budget gap in the council’s budget spanning the next two financial years.
It identified a number of factors – including an ongoing equal pay dispute – but pointed to the rising cost of homelessness as adding to budget pressures.