{"id":811337,"date":"2026-03-08T02:49:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T02:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/811337\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T02:49:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T02:49:33","slug":"sneaky-snp-government-refuse-to-say-immigration-is-behind-housing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/811337\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sneaky’ SNP Government refuse to say immigration is behind housing crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: In private briefings prepared by Scottish Government officials, the rising number of asylum seekers was not listed as a reason behind the housing crisis hitting the likes of Glasgow and Edinburgh.\"Mairi<\/p>\n

SNP Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan(Image: Ken Jack\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The “sneaky” SNP Government has been blasted after refusing to admit that immigration was a key reason behind the housing crisis impacting numerous Scottish councils. Glasgow is having the biggest issues, with the local authority being hit with a \u00a366m bill for temporary accommodation due to a massive influx of asylum seekers.<\/a><\/p>\n

About 14 councils have declared a housing emergency due to high numbers of homeless applications and a lack of available homes for them. John Swinney was forced into doing the same, with the SNP Executive declaring one in May 2024, but have not managed to get on top of it.<\/a><\/p>\n

Internal briefings prepared for officials looked at the situation facing five councils: Glasgow, Edinburgh, West Lothian, South Lanarkshire and Fife. But when described “key themes creating pressure” in these, it failed to mention immigration<\/a> at all, and have been accused of ignoring the issue.<\/p>\n

The five reasons behind the crisis, government officials claimed, were: “Compliance with statutory duties; High numbers in temporary accommodation and a lack of affordable housing; Challenges in the PRS {private rented sector} – affordability and landlords leaving sector; Long term funding commitments from the Scottish Government;<\/a> Construction and labour costs and increasing population – expecting further demand on already stretched services.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: English cities should take in more illegal immigrants and take pressure off Glasgow says budding Reform MSP<\/a>READ MORE: Police Scotland hide true scale of asylum hotel crime over fears of sparking violence<\/a><\/p>\n

A slide detailing Glasgow’s issues alone was completely redacted, with officials using the reason that it would “inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice.” The government claims immigration has been ignored because it’s a reserved issue.<\/p>\n

Homeless applications in Glasgow from people from outside Scotland have surged<\/a> by more than 3,500%, which is having a massive impact on housing services. The region also has the highest number of asylum seekers in the UK thanks to relaxed housing rules which attract them to the city.<\/p>\n

\"homeless\"<\/p>\n

Homelessness crisis in Glasgow(Image: DAILY RECORD)<\/p>\n

Before the SNP scrapped the local connection rule in 2022, Scottish local authorities would not house a homeless person unless they had a connection to the area, referring the individual instead to another council where they did have a connection, such as an area where they or a family member had lived or worked.<\/p>\n

Glasgow City Council\u2019s latest accounts show homelessness services overspent by \u00a327m in 2024\/25, with \u00a312.4m taken from reserves. Net costs to the council were \u00a314.6m. Projections warn this could rise to \u00a343m in 2025\/26 and then \u00a366m in 2026\/27, unless policies change. Officials suggest that pausing dispersals to Glasgow and stopping requirements to house refugees from outside Scotland could reduce projected costs to \u00a336m next year and just \u00a313m by 2026\/27.<\/p>\n

Scottish Conservative shadow housing secretary Meghan Gallacher MSP told the Scottish Daily Express: <\/strong>\u201cSneaky SNP ministers are trying to pull the wool over voters\u2019 eyes. They know that across the country, councils are struggling to house the surging number of illegal immigrants, because of the SNP\u2019s divergence on housing policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re suffering from a housing emergency because of SNP cuts and their reckless rent controls policy. Asylum seekers are putting even more pressure on the system, especially in major cities like Glasgow where the local connection rule was ditched. John Swinney needs to stop virtue-signalling and work with the Home Office to address this growing problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MSP<\/p>\n

MSP Meghan Gallacher(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Housing Secretary M\u00e0iri McAllan said: \u201cThe Home Office is responsible for provision of asylum accommodation. People seeking asylum are given no choice in where they are accommodated by the Home Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cScotland has some of the strongest homelessness rights in the world. I have no intention of rolling back the rights of any homeless household, which would place many people at greater risk of destitution and harm. Reversing the suspension of local connection referrals will not impact on homelessness presentations made to Scottish local authorities by refugees as the legislative changes made in 2022 did not change local connection rules for refugee households.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost-of-living increases and successive UK Governments\u2019 mismanagement of the asylum system are creating serious pressures for local authorities, especially Glasgow. The UK Government must urgently provide more financial assistance to enable local authorities to provide safety and sanctuary for people seeking asylum and ensure their appropriate integration into communities. I have written to the Home Office to make clear that this must be a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never miss the latest top headlines from the Scottish Daily Express. Sign up to our daily newsletter here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: In private briefings prepared by Scottish Government officials, the rising number of asylum seekers was not listed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,10650,4884,6332,6333,40,135222,234277,712,204236,11312,10004,16,15],"class_list":["post-811337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-glasgow","tag-britain","tag-glasgow","tag-glasgow-city-council","tag-great-britain","tag-homelessness","tag-housing","tag-immigration","tag-mairi-mcallan","tag-meghan-gallacher","tag-scotland","tag-scottish-conservatives","tag-scottish-government","tag-snp","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116191282245969596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811337","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=811337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}