Refugees shun Glasgow

Refugees are staying away from Glasgow

Many asylum seekers are opting against moving to Glasgow after the publicity surrounding a number of families who were returned to London.

Only a tiny percentage of the refugees who should be coming north from London, under a deal between Glasgow City Council and 32 London boroughs, are actually doing so.

Some 400 families are supposed to move every week, but coaches are returning to Glasgow less than half empty, costing council tax payers thousands of pounds every week.

The recent changes in the Immigration and Asylum Bill mean more than 2,000 families seeking asylum are expected to arrive in Glasgow by the end of the year.

Jim Laird is worried by the scheme's take-up rate

But a separate scheme set up at the start of this year between Glasgow and London, has seen only about 100 of an expected 600 families re-locate north.

Jim Laird, of Glasgow's Asylum Support Team, is worried by the low take-up rate.

He said: "In the latest case we sent two buses down to the London borough of Southwark expecting to pick up 27 families when in fact only seven families actually appeared.

"We brought the seven families back up, but it meant one of the coaches returned empty."

He attributed some of the reluctance on the part of refugees to leave the south-east of England to the media.

Home Office scheme

"There's been a lot of stuff in the newspapers in London about an incident which occurred in Glasgow a number of weeks ago, in which we had to return, on the advice of the Immigration Service, 16 families to London," said Mr Laird.

The incident concerned some refugees being discovered begging.

They were also, apparently, in contravention of regulations which meant they had to report to London police stations on a regular basis.

There is now mounting concern over the money Glasgow has spent getting accommodation ready for the refugees, which cannot be recouped from London councils until they actually arrive.

If more families do not start arriving soon there is a danger the project will fold and the accommodation will be transferred to another scheme run by the Home Office.

The scheme sees people brought north as soon as they arrive in Britain and before they get a chance to settle in London.