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 proposesThis 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.
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
| 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 |