Scottish Parliament – Sept. 10, 2025 – 3

Impact of Accommodating Asylum Seekers on Scottish Local Government (Amendment 3)

Result

✅ Motion passed.

Aye: 72 MSPs

No: 45 MSPs

Absent: 12 MSPs

Parliamentary analysis

Strong conflict: Gov proposes

This vote is most similar to a group of votes where the government is proposing a motion and the opposition is strongly opposing it (few defections, high turnout).

This usually suggests an important point of principle, that even if the government is likely to win, is a significant public signal of opposition.

Motion

Motion type: Amendment(?)

S6M-18780.3: As an amendment to motion S6M-18780 in the name of Craig Hoy (Impact of Accommodating Asylum Seekers on Scottish Local Government), leave out from “acknowledges” to end and insert “ reaffirms individuals’ rights to asylum under international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol;

upholds the European Convention on Human Rights, and highlights Scotland’s place in the world as a welcoming nation to those fleeing persecution, conflict or danger.”

Original motion(S6M-18780): That the Parliament acknowledges that the current number of asylum seekers accommodated in Scotland's local authority areas is becoming financially "unsustainable" for them, as confirmed by the Scottish National Party leader of Glasgow City Council;

believes that asylum seekers should never have originally been accommodated in taxpayer-funded hotels;

calls for the closure of all asylum hotels across Scotland as soon as possible, and rejects the Scottish Government’s position outlined in its response to the UK Government’s immigration white paper, which would see a further increase in the number of asylum seekers coming to Scotland.

Motion in TheyWorkForYou

Annotations

No annotations for this decision.

Whip reports

No whip reports for this decision.

Overall counts

Grouping MSPs on date Vote participant count For motion Against motion Absent motion Turnout For motion percentage
All MSPs 129 117 72 45 12 90.70% 61.54%

Government counts

Grouping MSPs on date Vote participant count For motion Against motion Absent motion Turnout For motion percentage
Government 63 59 59 0 4 93.65% 100.00%
Opposition 66 58 13 45 8 87.88% 22.41%

Party voting counts

Grouping MSPs on date Vote participant count For motion Against motion Absent motion Party turnout For motion percentage
Conservative 28 25 0 25 3 89.29% 0.00%
Green 8 7 7 0 1 87.50% 100.00%
Scottish National Party 63 59 59 0 4 93.65% 100.00%
Independent 2 1 1 0 1 50.00% 100.00%
Liberal Democrat 5 5 5 0 0 100.00% 100.00%
Labour 22 19 0 19 3 86.36% 0.00%
Reform UK 1 1 0 1 0 100.00% 0.00%

Voting list

Download as CSV

Person Party Vote Party alignment
Alexander Stewart Conservative No 100.00%
Annabelle Ewing Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Michelle Thomson Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Graeme Dey Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jackie Dunbar Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jamie Greene Liberal Democrat Aye 100.00%
Stephen Kerr Conservative No 100.00%
Ruth Maguire Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Oliver Mundell Conservative No 100.00%
Douglas Ross Conservative No 100.00%
Fulton MacGregor Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Stephanie Callaghan Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Evelyn Tweed Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jamie Hepburn Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Meghan Gallacher Conservative No 100.00%
Lorna Slater Green Aye 100.00%
James Dornan Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Paul Sweeney Labour No 100.00%
Graham Simpson Reform UK No 100.00%
Siobhian Brown Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jenni Minto Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
David Torrance Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Michael Marra Labour No 100.00%
Rachael Hamilton Conservative No 100.00%
Elizabeth Smith Conservative No 100.00%
Richard Lochhead Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Ivan McKee Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Murdo Fraser Conservative No 100.00%
Shirley-Anne Somerville Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Tess White Conservative No 100.00%
Rhoda Grant Labour Absent n/a
Colin Smyth Independent Absent n/a
Emma Harper Scottish National Party Absent n/a
Colin Beattie Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Kenneth Gibson Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Brian Whittle Conservative No 100.00%
Finlay Carson Conservative No 100.00%
Richard Leonard Labour No 100.00%
Liam Kerr Conservative No 100.00%
Gillian Martin Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Beatrice Wishart Liberal Democrat Aye 100.00%
Mercedes Villalba Labour No 100.00%
Keith Brown Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Tom Arthur Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jackie Baillie Labour No 100.00%
Willie Coffey Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Gillian Mackay Green Aye 100.00%
Ariane Burgess Green Aye 100.00%
Liam McArthur Liberal Democrat Aye 100.00%
Sarah Boyack Labour No 100.00%
Mairi Gougeon Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Pam Gosal Conservative No 100.00%
Tim Eagle Conservative No 100.00%
Paul O'Kane Labour No 100.00%
Patrick Harvie Green Aye 100.00%
Maree Todd Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Carol Mochan Labour No 100.00%
Miles Briggs Conservative No 100.00%
Pam Duncan-Glancy Labour No 100.00%
Mark Griffin Labour No 100.00%
Martin Whitfield Labour No 100.00%
Angus Robertson Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Alexander Burnett Conservative No 100.00%
John Mason Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Angela Constance Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Annie Wells Conservative No 100.00%
Elena Whitham Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jenny Gilruth Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Alex Cole-Hamilton Liberal Democrat Aye 100.00%
Sue Webber Conservative Absent n/a
Neil Gray Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Sharon Dowey Conservative No 100.00%
Claire Baker Labour No 100.00%
Daniel Johnson Labour No 100.00%
Emma Roddick Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Jeremy Balfour Independent Aye n/a
Jim Fairlie Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Ross Greer Green Aye 100.00%
Paul McLennan Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Ash Denham Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Maggie Chapman Green Aye 100.00%
Kaukab Stewart Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Karen Adam Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Audrey Nicoll Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Rona Mackay Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Shona Robison Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Kevin Stewart Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Craig Hoy Conservative No 100.00%
Pauline McNeill Labour No 100.00%
Michael Matheson Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Edward Mountain Conservative No 100.00%
Russell Findlay Conservative No 100.00%
Sandesh Gulhane Conservative No 100.00%
Marie McNair Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Neil Bibby Labour No 100.00%
Jackson Carlaw Conservative Absent n/a
Collette Stevenson Scottish National Party Absent n/a
Joe FitzPatrick Scottish National Party Absent n/a
Fergus Ewing Scottish National Party Absent n/a
Alison Johnstone Green Absent n/a
Christine Grahame Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Roz McCall Conservative No 100.00%
Màiri McAllan Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Douglas Lumsden Conservative No 100.00%
Humza Yousaf Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Bob Doris Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Fiona Hyslop Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Natalie Don Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Ben Macpherson Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Kate Forbes Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
John Swinney Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Davy Russell Labour No 100.00%
Stuart McMillan Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Willie Rennie Liberal Democrat Aye 100.00%
Jamie Halcro Johnston Conservative No 100.00%
Mark Ruskell Green Aye 100.00%
Anas Sarwar Labour No 100.00%
Alex Rowley Labour No 100.00%
Clare Adamson Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Bill Kidd Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
George Adam Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Alasdair Allan Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Nicola Sturgeon Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Clare Haughey Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Foysol Choudhury Labour No 100.00%
Gordon MacDonald Scottish National Party Aye 100.00%
Maurice Golden Conservative Absent n/a
Monica Lennon Labour Absent n/a
Baroness Clark Labour Absent n/a