![\"Homelessness](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_proxy-10.jpg\")
Homelessness in Buchanan Street Glasgow. <\/p>\nThe First Minister backed up SNP-led Glasgow council over calls for a temporary suspension.Homelessness in Buchanan Street Glasgow. <\/p>\n
John Swinney has backed calls for a pause on more asylum seekers coming to Glasgow as \u201cfair\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n The First Minister echoed the local council\u2019s request for a temporary halt but defended the country\u2019s liberal homelessness laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Glasgow is home to over 90% of asylum seekers in Scotland as a result of the city\u2019s long-standing policy of helping people fleeing persecution<\/a>.<\/p>\n The policy is operated by the Home Office which tasks private sector firm Mears with finding accommodation.<\/p>\n But the council is facing a \u00a366m black hole due to a rise in homelessness applications from refugees granted leave to remain.<\/p>\n Council chiefs blame the UK Government policy of trying to empty asylum seeker hotels which they say has created a refugee homeless crisis.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Glasgow hit by 7,500 homeless applications from outside the city as housing ’emergency’ takes grip<\/a>READ MORE: Safe housing laws breached 10 times a day amid Glasgow housing emergency as more kids left in BnBs<\/a><\/p>\n In an interview with Sky News ahead of the SNP conference in Aberdeen, the First Minister said a pause for Glasgow would be a \u201cfair and reasonable approach\u201d.<\/p>\n Pushed on whether he supports a pause, he said \u201cthat\u2019s not what the Home Office are proposing, and I think that has got to be put in place\u201d.<\/p>\n Scotland\u2019s generous homelessness laws are also under scrutiny for their impact on Glasgow.<\/p>\n Refugees have had a long-standing right to apply for homeless assistance in Scotland even if they have been granted leave to remain in England.<\/p>\n The SNP Government also changed the rules so that people who are homeless in one part of Scotland can apply for help in another council area.<\/p>\n Local authorities in England house people in ‘priority need’, but Scottish rules cover anyone who is unintentionally homeless, including single me<\/p>\n On whether the law is making the problem worse, Swinney said Scotland has long had a \u201csympathetic\u201d approach, adding: \u201cI think our homelessness approach is the right approach\u201d.<\/p>\n Figures obtained by the Record showed that Glasgow continues to help asylum seekers more than any area north of the border.<\/p>\n For every 10,000 people, Glasgow is housing 58 asylum seekers, while the figure for Edinburgh is three.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Swinney repeated claims that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will quit if the SNP wins a majority at Holyrood next year.<\/p>\n The SNP conference will today be dominated by Swinney trying to get his party to back his new position on independence.<\/p>\n He believes the SNP returning 65 MSPs in May will be a mandate for indyref2.<\/p>\n Asked if he thinks Starmer would grant a referendum in these circumstances, Swinney told LBC:<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the comments that Keir Starmer has made in the past, he’s recognised that Scotland has a right to decide her own future, and he’s taken a slight different tack now that he’s become Prime Minister, but I think if I win a majority in the Scottish Parliament next year, I think Keir Starmer won\u2019t be the Prime Minister, and I’ll be negotiating with somebody else.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the impact of the SNP having been so successful, will have an effect that will resonate throughout United Kingdom politics. But crucially, for Scotland, it will give us a pathway to independence.”<\/p>\n He said: \u201cKeir Starmer is in real difficulties in his leadership in the Labour Party, and if the Labour Party are unsuccessful in Scotland next May, then I think that will be something that’ll tip the issues against him.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"First](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_01K60HG8C1PP02Y9E40DZ5AV3F.jpg\")
First Minister John Swinney<\/p>\n