JOHN Swinney has panned Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord for spreading “disinformation” after he used his first question of the new Holyrood session to repeat claims which had already been called “entirely false”.
At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Offord wrongly alleged that “the Labour-run Edinburgh City Council froze all social housing applications of homeless Scots”.
The Reform MSP went on: “Their applications were shelved while the council's housing stock was provided instead and in priority to asylum applicants.”
READ MORE: Reform top donations table thanks to crypto criminal as SNP get 225k bequest
In reality, once a person has their asylum application accepted, they can lose their Home Office-provided accommodation and may become homeless. Homeless people, disabled people, and those at risk of violence are treated as higher priority for social housing than ordinary applicants.
As such, newly recognised refugees who have become homeless fall into a higher priority group than ordinary applicants, but they are not given priority over “homeless Scots” – as Offord claimed – and those “homeless Scots” have not had their applications “frozen”.
Edinburgh Council made this clear in a statement on Tuesday, saying that refugees “are afforded the same process, support, and respect as every other applicant” and “it is entirely false to say people in this position have been prioritised for housing”.
Responding to Offord’s opening question, the First Minister...
Alanis Morissette claimed to be the victim of a "calculated blackmail campaign" allegedly orchestrated by her "disgruntled former tour manager," according to court documents obtained by Fox News Di...