A legal battle against the eviction of asylum seekers in Glasgow got underway today as Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf claimed UK immigration policy needs an “injection of humanity”.
Homeless charity Shelter Scotland launched the case at the city’s sheriff court after Home Office contractor Serco issued lock change notices to tenants who have been refused asylum.
The charity presented papers on behalf of two asylum seekers from a group of six facing eviction.
While Serco - who no longer receive funding for tenants deemed failed asylum seekers - agreed to pause its programme of lock changes ahead of the court case, Mr Yousaf argued that this would only provide “temporary relief” for those at risk of losing their home.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already spoken out against the proposals, which could affect hundreds of asylum seekers, and Mr Yousaf said he was “very concerned” about Serco’s actions.
He said: “I welcome, of course, that Serco have announced a recent halting, but that is just a temporary relief undoubtedly for asylum seekers.
“I would echo the First Minister that some much-needed humanity has to be injected into the system.
“The Home Office immigration and asylum policy has rightly been criticised for being too cruel, for not seeing human beings, for not understanding the reasons why people leave their homes, whether it is war, poverty or conflict.
“There are some real big hurdles in the asylum process, but there is a complete and utter lack of humanity in the system from the UK Government, and that has to change.”
The lock changes will be halted for 21 days until the legal case calls again.
Speaking outside court, Shelter Scotland’s principal solicitor Fiona McPhail described Serco’s agreement as “a massive temporary victory” for the asylum seekers involved.
She added that the charity will try to argue that the case involves a human rights issue.
“These individuals are at risk of losing their home,” she said. “We’re arguing that Serco are acting on instructions from the Home Office and acting as a public authority and therefore have obligations under the Human Rights Act.
“There’s a requirement for there to be due process, there needs to be safeguards in place and it’s not compliant for there to merely be a lock-change at a certain stage.”
The legal action came as Serco CEO Rupert Soames claimed it was not true that 330 people would be served with lock change notices.
Speaking to Good Morning Scotland, he said: “That is the total number of people we are paying for whom Home Office support has ceased.
“About of third of them have had positive decisions and will be waiting to find alternative arrangements.”
He added that Serco has made an £80 million loss on the asylum accommodation contract over the past five years and said he welcomed the legal action as an opportunity to gain clarity from the courts, although the firm insisted its approach was “fully within the law”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel