{"id":413908,"date":"2025-09-10T19:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T19:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/413908\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T19:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T19:27:11","slug":"scottish-tories-blasted-for-disgusting-holyrood-asylum-hotel-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/413908\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish Tories blasted for ‘disgusting’ Holyrood asylum hotel debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n First Minister John Swinney<\/a>, meanwhile, said it was “disgusting”.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The party brought forward a motion on Wednesday afternoon calling for the closure of all asylum hotels across Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n It came a day after a brick was thrown through one of those hotels in Falkirk<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n The attack on the Cladhan Hotel occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning and is being investigated by police.\n<\/p>\n

\n There have been several protests held by the Save Our Future and Our Kids Future group outside the hotel in recent weeks, including one on Sunday where far-right Patriotic Alternative member Richard McFarlane was given a platform to speak.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:\u00a0Coffee giant Starbucks in council battle to open cafe in historic Scottish town<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n Scottish Tory MSP Craig Hoy, who brought forward the motion, said the Scottish Government<\/a> was at least partly to blame for the “negative effects of illegal immigration” and that it was a debate “we cannot afford not to have”.\n<\/p>\n

\n In response, John Swinney accused him of bringing the debate to “politically exploit\u00a0this issue in a most disgusting fashion”.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The First Minister added: “And it embodies where the Conservative Party<\/a> finds itself these days.”\n<\/p>\n

\n In a statement, the SNP<\/a> also accused the Scottish Conservatives<\/a> of “blowing Nigel Farage<\/a>‘s dog whistle”.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cToday’s motion shows the Nasty Party is living up to its name, and is a cynical attempt from the Tories to blow Nigel Farage’s dog-whistle, stigmatising those fleeing persecution along the way,\u201d Clare Haughey MSP said.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Asylum seekers<\/a> are not to blame for soaring energy bills, recruitment issues in our NHS or a housing emergency. The responsibility lies squarely with Westminster<\/a>, both Labour and Tory parties, for decades of cuts to Scotland’s budget, and their failure to control the cost of living crisis.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cScotland overwhelmingly rejects that divisive politics of fear – and offers a better alternative to the xenophobic hegemony at Westminster.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWith independence, Scotland could rid itself of Westminster\u2019s inhumane policies and deliver a bespoke migration policy that suits Scotland’s needs. It’s time the opposition got behind that idea \u2013\u00a0rather than marching to the beat of Nigel Farage’s drum.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman<\/a>, meanwhile, said the Tories are knowingly throwing fuel on the fire of far right protests and endangering the safety of asylum seekers.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe protests and hostility are a direct threat to the safety of people who have fled devastating circumstances,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe all deserve to feel safe where we live. Nobody should have to face intimidation and harassment like this on their doorsteps.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt may be the far right who are leading the protests and throwing bricks, but they have been egged on and encouraged every step of the way by the Tories, Reform and others who are cynically fuelling the fire and trying to make political capital out of human misery.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cToday\u2019s Tory motion is less of a dog whistle and more of a foghorn. Scotland has rejected these cruel politics time and again and I am confident we will continue to do so.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First Minister John Swinney, meanwhile, said it was “disgusting”.\u00a0 The party brought forward a motion on Wednesday afternoon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-413908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115181652711195600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}