“I am proud to be Scottish. I don’t want them here.”
Standing on the balcony of his flat in Glasgow, George drapes the saltire Scottish flag as he explains his anti-immigration stance.
“We can’t afford to keep all these people coming in,” he says. “There’s too many people coming in.”
George, who lives on the Wyndford estate in Glasgow’s Maryhill, is not alone.
Warning: This report contains material some may find offensive.
Streets across the city are filling with white and blue flags hanging from lampposts.
Immigration has not been centre stage in Scottish politics for many years – but the mood appears to be shifting.
Glasgow is the frontline of the UK’s immigration system, with more arrivals than anywhere else.
With community tensions spiking and accommodation costs rising to £4.5m a month, the city’s leaders are demanding a pause on relocations.
Glasgow’s financial burden spirals
In 1999, the city signed up to the UK’s “dispersal” system, which saw asylum seekers relocated by the Home Office in exchange for cash.
It was a bygone era, when Glasgow’s high-rise housing was in abundance and modern pressures were less acute.
The landscape has changed drastically, with many tower blocks flattened amid regeneration.
Once an asylum seeker is given the right to stay in the UK, they become a refugee and switch from being the responsibility of the Home Office to the local authority.
While immigration is controlled by Westminster, housing and healthcare are among the issues dealt with by the Scottish government.
Scotland’s homelessness legislation means councils must house anyone without a home.
It is a more generous policy than in England, where usually only those with “priority need” are given a roof over their head.
It is suggested the Scottish policy is drawing people to Glasgow at the same time the Home Office is “mass processing” a backlog of asylum cases and granting some the right to stay in the UK.
Latest figures show Glasgow was the local authority with the highest proportion of housed asylum seekers at 59 per 10,000 inhabitants (a total of 3,716).
City officials argue the issues are coming together to create a crisis, with the financial burden spiralling.
Councillors are pleading for more financial assistance from Westminster, but so far that has not been forthcoming.
‘We will be the underdogs’
Scotland has traditionally been seen as a left-leaning nation where inward migration is welcomed.
The tourism industry relies heavily on people coming to work, and it is no secret that Brexit caused issues for hospitality staffing.
The issue has not dominated the public conversation in Scotland, but polls suggest, for the first time in a long while, it is a rising concern.
It is still not a priority for most Scots – but it is beginning to seep into the narrative.
Up the road from where George lives in Maryhill, we come across an 84-year-old woman who asks us not to show her face on camera.
Immigration is “getting out of control”, she says.
“It looks like they are going to overspill us,” she says. “We will be the underdogs.”
When challenged on her evidence for her claims, she responds: “I don’t have any evidence”.
Asked what she means by “they”, she says: “All the ones that are coming in, especially Muslims.”
She said she was not racist but was instead saying “just truth” and “my opinion”.
We meet Audrey Cameron, a mother whose children have additional learning needs.
She told me: “I’ve got an older son who lives with me who can’t get a house, but yet you come in to this country, and you get a house no bother. I know people say they don’t, but they do.
“There is more black and every other colour than there is white.”
When challenged that others may think a multicultural society is something that should be welcomed, Ms Cameron says: “We don’t have the infrastructure for it.
“We don’t have the housing. Even trying to get a doctor’s appointment is a nightmare. There has to be a limit.
“There are too many immigrants in this area. They are not spread out. They are all congregated.”
‘They are not stealing your jobs’
Andy Sirel, a leading immigration lawyer and co-founder of Just Right Scotland, tells Sky News that misinformation is fuelling the public discourse and politicians need to act.
He says: “When a person is in the United Kingdom, they are not allowed to work, they are not allowed to claim benefits, they are not stealing your jobs.
“If they are in a hotel, which they don’t want to be in, they are on £9 a week. It is simply not true the narrative that is being put out.
“The issue is being used as a scapegoat by various political actors.
“It is predicated on immigration, or higher levels of immigration, being why the standard of living has dropped and the reason public services are suffering, which is simply not the case.”
The town with deep divides over immigration
Falkirk is a mid-size town with a population of approximately 150,000, around 30 miles from Glasgow city centre.
It has become a flashpoint for protest between pro and anti-immigration groups.
A dilapidated and crumbling old hotel, the Cladhan, is home to dozens of mostly men in their 20s, 30s and 40s awaiting their asylum cases being heard.
The Home Office pays for accommodation, meals and financial allowances for asylum seekers, given the rules banning them seeking employment.
A brick was thrown through a window recently in an attack Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney branded “despicable”.
During a rally outside the hotel, Sky News filmed one man performing a Nazi salute, while a banner was held up saying “Kill ‘Em All, Let God Sort ‘Em Out”.
Others, from the community group Falkirk For All, chanted “refugees are welcome here”.
“We are standing up against the scapegoating of refugees. [We are] standing up against racism,” Georgia Henderson from the group said.
“We have been shocked by what we saw. We are highly motivated to turn up and protect the people of the hotel.”
Dr Teresa Piacentini, an expert in migration from Glasgow University, said many people are misinformed when discussing this issue.
She said: “Claiming asylum is a right. To claim asylum is not to do something illegal. You have a legal entitlement to claim asylum.
“People that are being held in the asylum hotels have claimed asylum so are exercising a right to be here. And while their asylum claim is being processed, they are here legally.
“Illegal has become a convenient catch-all phrase that doesn’t actually reveal the complexity and nuance behind it.”
Tensions in Falkirk have been heightened since a former resident of the asylum hotel raped a 15-year-old girl in the town.
Asylum seeker Sadeq Nikzad, 29, was jailed for nine years in June.
We spoke to two men who are currently living in the hotel after being bussed up to Falkirk from London.
Nechirvan, 31, arrived in March 2024 after crossing the English Channel.
He says he fled Iraq and had been living in Europe, mostly Germany, for 10 years before making the journey to the UK.
He claims he “couldn’t stay” on the continent any more because “they are deporting people”.
Asked whether he understands the anger from some that it is mostly young men entering on small boats, he says: “We are not safe in our country.
“It is not easy. Not easy for family to cross the water. That’s why they not bring the family.”
Nechirvan describes sleepless nights as protests ramp up outside the asylum hotel.
Another asylum seeker living in Falkirk, who did not want to be identified, says he came to the UK from West Africa.
In response to rising tensions, he says: “I don’t blame anybody. People have some valid reasons to feel angry but what is important is that we are all human beings.”
“You cannot put everyone in one category, classing everyone as racist,” he adds.
“What I know is people have valid reasons, but not everyone in the hotel is bad. Some of the people if you listen to what they went through, you’d sympathise with them.
“You may have your own reasons for doing what you are doing but let’s just live peacefully.”
The Home Office told Sky News it is attempting to reduce the number of people in hotels.
A spokesman said: “This government inherited a broken asylum and immigration system. We are taking practical steps to turn that chaos around – including doubling asylum decision-making to clear the backlog left by the previous government and reducing the number of people in hotels by 6,000 in the first half of 2025.
“We continue to work with local councils, NGOs and other stakeholders to ensure any necessary assistance is provided for those individuals who are granted refugee status.”
