Scottish asylum seekers left destitute

Hundreds of asylum seekers in Scotland, including children and pregnant women, are being left completely destitute with no support and nowhere to live, and yet they have no way of returning home safely, according to Scottish refugee charities.

The claims by the Scottish Refugee Council and Refugee Survival Trust are based on new research by Glasgow Caledonian University’s Scottish Poverty Information Unit, which highlights refugee poverty as the most extreme researchers have seen.

In response the charities are launching an urgent campaign calling for the UK Government to change its policy of forcing refused asylum seekers into destitution.

“My research suggests hundreds of asylum seekers are caught in a trap – unable to go home and yet forced into destitution and unable to support themselves in any way,” said head researcher Morag Gillespie. “In all my years of researching poverty with different sections of society, I have in fact never seen anything so extreme or so hidden from official records. I can’t believe that we treat people like this in Scotland today. It is no way to live.”