Asylum seekers: Compassion should be our watchword in dealing with people fleeing tyranny and war – Scotsman comment

However, the shortage of accommodation it is designed to address is partly the result of the UK Government’s failings, as well as a rise in the number of asylum seekers. Applications are being processed at far too slow a rate, creating a vast backlog of people who are not allowed to work. And the refusal to allow applications to be made in France has also essentially forced many who wish to make a claim in the UK to risk their lives by crossing the English Channel in small boats. Not all asylum seekers are genuine, but most are: in 2022, 24 per cent of claims were refused.

Whether a barge can be as fit for human habitation as a cruise liner is questionable. But if it can be made so – and is nothing like the “floating prison” some have suggested – then the UK Government’s decision to start sending migrants to the Bibby Stockholm can be defended. But housing people in such accommodation should only be for a temporary period.

Glasgow Council leader Susan Aitken has now claimed she refused a request by the UK Government to host an asylum barge in the city, a decision implicitly backed by Humza Yousaf when he shared her social media post. But Scotland needs to show it truly is a “beacon of support… for asylum seekers and refugees”, as Aitken insisted, in practical ways.

These people need to stay somewhere until their claims are processed. So perhaps rather than just saying “no”, Aitken and Yousaf could have come up with their own suggestions. For one, Scotland’s economy needs more working-age people.

However, first and foremost, the UK Government should ditch its “hostile environment”, stop removing cartoons from the walls of child reception centres, and instead be more compassionate. It sometimes seems to be forgotten, but much-demonised ‘asylum seekers’ are human beings, after all.