Meeting of the Parliament 08 October 2025
I will not even waste my time in attempting to address that point. Kevin Stewart needs to open his ears and listen up to what is actually being said.
Concerns are increasing in many Scottish communities. People can see that uncontrolled immigration is unsustainable. People know that foreign criminals should be sent packing. Those are not extreme positions, but the views of ordinary, mainstream Scotland—of sensible Scots who increasingly struggle to understand an out-of-touch, left-wing political class. People can see that unfettered immigration places increasing pressure on public services. Taxpayers who work hard but struggle to pay the bills while local services decline understand that. When SNP politicians accused Scots who are concerned about immigration of politicising the saltire, that was surely the day when irony died. To attack this debate—as I suspect many will do—will serve only to confirm how out of touch they really are.
I will say it again, loud and clear. The people in Scotland who have concerns about immigration are not racist. It is not racist to reject alien attitudes towards women or gay people. It is not racist to oppose cultural practices such as child marriage. It is not racist to expect or want immigrants to assimilate.
It is foolish and naive to nurture the idealistic notion that all immigration is good and welcome, yet in Scotland today, that is where many left-wing politicians appear to stand. Some of them want open borders. Some are blind to the misery of trafficked people. Some think that it is fine for migrants to leave a place of safety, such as France, to reach our shores.
We, the Scottish Conservatives, think differently. We believe that illegal migration is causing strain in our local communities and our nation’s finances. That is why I endorse Kemi Badenoch’s plan to withdraw from the European convention on human rights and deport those who come here illegally. That is the only credible way in which we can again take control of our borders. Those views are basic common sense. Such conversations are held around dinner tables, at football grounds, in community centres and in pubs.
I see the impact of mass migration on my home city of Glasgow, which now houses more asylum seekers than any other local authority area in the United Kingdom. Once an asylum seeker is granted leave to remain, they gain refugee status. At that point, they are the responsibility of the local council, which is required to house them, albeit only if they are categorised as priority need. However, the SNP abolished the priority need criteria in 2012. That means that every homeless refugee is entitled to a home in Scotland. In addition, 10 years later, in 2022, the SNP abolished what is known as the local connection rule. That means that those with refugee status do not need to have any local connection whatsoever to seek housing. Both of those SNP decisions have resulted in Scotland generally, and Glasgow specifically, becoming a prime destination.