Colcam

First Minister Jack McConnell stands accused of misleading the Scottish parliament and the people of Scotland over the issue of the forced removal in dawn raids of asylum-seekers and their families.

Despite McConnell's previous pronouncements which led Holyrood, the public and the media to believe that he was behind changes to the removal system north of the border, his spokesman has agreed that McConnell never raised the matter with the Home Office.

Officials from the Home Office, which has responsibility for immigration throughout the UK, made clear yesterday that Mr McConnell’s claim of a future protocol on forced removal between the Scottish Executive and Whitehall did not make sense and that there was no prospect of any such one.

There is no "protocol", as McConnell suggested there would be, and the Home Office has no intention of ending dawn raids, or even the handcuffing of children.

Jack McConnell, always fond of publicity, is now getting plenty. I hope he's pleased, because his behaviour has embarrassed and angered the Scottish parliament and the public, and shown him up as a small-time Labour toady, snubbed by London, elevated beyond his meagre talents and worth.

Asylum statement demand defeated

UK Immigration Minister Tony McNulty in Scotland today.


UK Immigration Minister Tony McNulty was interviewed on Radio Scotland this morning, and said people were "hung-up" on the word protocol.

In what sounded more like a party political broadcast, McNulty, a man few had ever heard of until a week or two ago, defended the use of dawn raids, and said there would be no special protocol with the executive. He went on to say that any changes in how dawn raids were carried out would have to be made right across the UK.

Asked if there had been a misunderstanding between London and Edinburgh, McNulty said no, and that it was "willful and mischievous misunderstanding by other political parties who clearly, by their activities over the last couple of days, could care less about the lot of asylum-seekers and how we do removals, and care more about petty politics."

A pretty disgraceful performance from Tony McNulty.

Robina Qureshi of PAIH said this morning: "Dawn raids are going to end. McNulty can go back to where he came from, we don't want his like here on Scottish soil. His jackboots are too dirty for Scottish soil. We are going to end dawn raids - the blocks are going to be covered in Glasgow, they are very well occupied by asylum-seekers, they are going to be covered and protected so that families can sleep at night time, and children can sleep at night time, and they don't have to waken up from 4 o'clock to 7 o'clock to see if vans are coming down to their block in the high-rises of Glasgow".

The Positive Action In Housing website.