Taxpayers paid out a record £14million last year to fund legal aid for asylum seekers fighting to remain in Scotland.
With the UK facing an unprecedented influx of migrants – including thousands crossing the English Channel on small boats – a growing number are sent to Scotland to be temporarily housed while their asylum applications are processed.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Mail on Sunday reveal the knock-on effect for the country’s legal aid bill – which is the fund of public money for people involved in cases in the criminal and civil courts.
In the year 2024/25, a total of £14.4m was spent on civil legal aid for immigration and asylum cases, which is a 20 per cent increase from the previous year – and almost three times higher than a decade ago.
The Labour government’s failure to control levels of migration has sparked growing disquiet – including angry protests around Scotland about the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers and recent plans to house hundreds more in a former barracks in Inverness.
Earlier this year immigration was ranked, for the first time, as one the top five concerns of people living in Scotland.
Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council – which houses around half of the asylum seekers in Scotland – has warned that it is facing extreme financial pressure because of rising numbers and a lack of UK government support.
The Tories said the growing cost of legal aid for asylum cases was ‘unsustainable’.
Migrants crossing the Channel on inflatable boats
Scottish Conservative community safety spokeswoman Sharon Dowey MSP said: ‘The ever-increasing cost of legal aid for immigration cases is unsustainable going forward.
‘Hard-pressed Scots who are being hit with rising bills and seeing our public services at breaking point will question why their money is being spent in this way.
‘Everyone is entitled to legal aid, but with the system in crisis under the SNP, ministers must ensure that costs are fair to the taxpayer at all times.’
With record numbers of migrants arriving in the UK to claim asylum – primarily in the south-east of England – the Home Office operates a dispersal system, which sees arrivals sent to be housed in different parts of the country.
In June this year, the number living in Scotland was 6,107, double the number a decade ago, including 1,573 who were living in taxpayer-funded hotels.
While councils provide access to housing and services, the publicly-funded Scottish Legal Aid Board provides assistance to pay for asylum applications and appeals.
Costs have soared year on year, from just £855,000 2001/02 to £5.3 million in 2014/15 – before almost trebling over the past decade to a new high in 2024/25 of £14,380,000.
In May, the Diffley Partnership and the David Hume Institute’s Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker said immigration had entered the top five list of Scots’ leading concerns for the first time.
In the year ending June 2025, around half (48 per cent) of the migrants who lodged an initial asylum application in the UK were granted refugee protection – around 52,000 people.
And although dismissal of an asylum case can lead to deportation, the system also permits various avenues of appeal, which mean cases can drag on for many years – adding to the legal aid bill.
As well as many legitimate and horrifying cases of torture and persecution, the tribunal offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow which hear asylum cases have also been presented with a number of outrageous or bizarre appeals against deportation.
In one shocking case, a foreign paedophile who had been jailed for abusing his step-daughter and two of her cousins used public cash to successfully argue he should be allowed to remain in Scotland – because deporting him would breach his right to a family life.
Scottish Conservative community safety spokeswoman Sharon Dowey MSP
The man in his 50s, originally from central Africa, was found guilty of sex attacks on the three young girls and ordered to be deported.
But after an appeal, an immigration judge, despite acknowledging the sex offender continued ‘to pose a risk’, ruled at the end of last year that sending him back to Africa would breach his rights to a family life – enshrined under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – and ‘negatively impact’ the well-being of his children.
The Scottish Legal Aid Board said the bill was directly influenced by government policy.
A spokesperson said: ‘Legal aid expenditure for immigration and asylum is an area prone to fluctuation, largely due to UK government policy and world events.
‘We keep the provision of legal assistance under review and focus on achieving best value for the public funds available to those eligible.
‘Our guidance is clear about the practice and approach solicitors must follow when carrying out different types of immigration and asylum work.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘In this government’s first year in office, we facilitated the return of more than 35,000 individuals with no legal right to remain in the UK.
‘We are speeding up decision making to help move asylum seekers through our system more quickly, reforming the appeals system, and returning those with no right to be in the UK.’
