We have just received the following update from the Refugee Council regarding the termination of the contract between Glasgow City Council and the UKBA. Click here

Currently, the City Council is the biggest provider of accommodation and support services for asylum seekers dispersed to Glasgow. There are also two private providers, one of which is a not-for-profit organisation. Should there be no resolution to the dispute between the Council and UKBA, over 1300 people (600 families) face having to once again move at short notice. Try to imagine fleeing your home, finally making it to the UK after a perilous journey, being dispersed to this cold and rainy place, managing to get your children settled into school and beginning to build a new life only to be given 3 days notice that you are to be uprooted again. You have no say in the matter and are powerless to make a choice about your children's best interests.

Needless to say, this could have a huge impact on the ministry here as well. The letters sent to those currently in Council accommodation state that they will be moved to somewhere else in Scotland. No other cities have been identified and we are not aware of any other areas in the country making preparations to receive asylum seekers. If this goes ahead, the UKBA are likely to face the same problems with unprepared host communities as they did in Glasgow 10 years ago including misunderstanding, the stretching of public services (already facing budget cuts) and even violence directed at the newcomers.

The Refugee Council are absolutely right in calling for any negotiations to place the welfare of the people affected in the centre of the debate. Who knows what is currently really going on behind closed doors. There may be some strategy at play on both sides but the people who suffer are our friends. They are being told very little and silence proves a fertile breeding ground for rumour which leads to even more fear.