Meeting of the Parliament 17 June 2014
I am delighted to follow an excellent speech from Margaret McCulloch, in which she mentioned some of the common misconceptions with which I was going to begin my speech.
I think that society is a lot more tolerant towards immigrants to these shores than is suggested by attitude surveys, and I will explain what I mean by that. People may use generic terms and describe floods of immigrants coming to the country but, if one breaks it down and engages with people on the basics, the view is different. If one talks about international students, who are keeping our higher education system afloat by paying huge fees to come to this country, people tend to say, “Well, of course that is okay.”
If one explains that many Scottish people and people from across the UK are taking benefits in other European countries, because they are staying there and have made a life for themselves, and when one outlines the facts about Scottish people going to other European countries and other people coming to Scotland, people tend to say, “Actually, that seems to be okay.”
When one explains to people, as members have mentioned today, that asylum seekers are fleeing war-torn countries—I have had direct experience of dealing with constituents in that situation—they tend to say, “Yes, that’s okay.”
However, those views are not what we tend to read in the mainstream press. If the narrative is correct and deals with the facts about immigration to these shores, the people of Scotland—and, I believe, of the United Kingdom—are far more tolerant and inclusive than certain attitude surveys let on. We, as politicians, all have an opportunity to show leadership in putting the facts about the situation on the record.
I will share a brief story about a constituent of mine called Ako, who was in my office the other day. People would see him and say, “Oh, there’s another immigrant coming to my country.” I will not get into the personal details of his story, but he was looking to be returned to Mosul. I do not think that he will be going there any time soon.
I represent a swathe of constituents in relation to asylum and refugee cases. Quite a lot of them are Kurds, because of the connection that I have with the Kurdish community in Glasgow. They are dependent on the court ruling in the case of Bakhtear Rashid—apologies to Kurds and the legal profession for my pronunciation—which I believe refers to when someone came to the UK, whether they came to it from the Kurdish region or from the rest of Iraq and whether Saddam Hussein was in power when they came. All of that is used to determine whether people are allowed to stay. The people whom I meet have been here for a long time and, frankly, this is their home. They make an incredible contribution to our country. That gives a flavour of the kind of refugees and asylum seekers whom I meet, and of immigrants to our shores more generally.
Politicians often talk about the good work that other people do rather than the work that we do, so I put on record the work of the police in relation to asylum seekers. I remember when I became an MSP in 2007 meeting Constable Harry Faulds, a community police officer in Sighthill in Glasgow who has since retired. He did exceptional work to bring communities together. I also mention the Maryhill Integration Network, which my colleague Patricia Ferguson will know well and which does fine work on inclusiveness and integration in Glasgow, the area that I represent.
The Scottish Government strategy is called “New Scots: Integrating Refugees in Scotland’s Communities”. Members could speak in support of that strategy irrespective of their position on the constitution and an independent Scotland, as it makes no attempt to raise the issue of independence. It contains a set of principles on integrating people in our communities that we would all like to see in society. That is the tone in which I make my remarks.
On the needs of dispersed asylum seekers—I hate the term “dispersed”, but there we are—the strategy states:
“The long-term strategic planning of the dispersal of asylum seekers in Scotland is informed by the needs of asylum seekers and local communities leading to an increase in integration”.
When that is done well, it benefits a community, but it has not always been done particularly well. Initially, there were difficult and challenging situations at Sighthill and Red Road, but things have improved since then. I pay tribute to everyone who has been on board in relation to that.
My intervention on Alison McInnes was on housing, so I should refer to that issue in my remaining time. Significant concerns have been raised by the Scottish Refugee Council and a number of my constituents about the housing contract that UKBA has in relation to asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow with Serco and Orchard & Shipman. We have been working on a cross-party basis to deal with that. I made representations to Margaret Burgess on what the Scottish Government could do through housing standards and regulation. It can do almost nothing, but I will continue to press on the issue to encourage constructive dialogue.
Some of the social tensions in relation to housing for asylum seekers and refugees are exactly the same as those relating to homeless people. There are a series of supported tenancies across the city of Glasgow with a high turnover of individuals, which is not good for sustainable communities. We must turn some of those tenancies into permanent ones so that we embed people in the heart of their communities, but that is not how the system works.
Presiding Officer, thank you for indulging me, as always, in sneaking an extra half minute into my speech. I thoroughly support the Government motion.
16:13