Swinney: Tory debate on free bus travel for asylum seekers an ‘enormous regret’

A Scottish Conservative debate opposing free bus travel for asylum seekers will be a “moment of enormous regret”, the First Minister has said.

The party called the debate for Wednesday, a week after the Finance Secretary’s Budget brought back the policy which was scrapped earlier this year due to financial concerns.

Speaking ahead of the proceedings in Holyrood, John Swinney said the Scottish Parliament has supported asylum seekers in the first 25 years of its existence, but that will change with the Tory debate.

“There’s a deeper point about this issue which really troubles me,” the First Minister said.

“When the King came to Parliament at the end of September, I quoted Winnie Ewing’s first words to the Scottish Parliament, which were she hoped that everybody who came to Scotland was able to live compatibly, happily alongside everybody who had lived here all of their days, and that we would have a happy and cohesive society.

“I quoted that and then I said for 25 years, I’d heard every single member of Parliament reflect that sentiment in all that we said and did in Parliament.

“I think that will change today, and that’s a moment of enormous regret.”

Mr Swinney’s comments come as the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Catholic Church joined forces to urge MSPs to back free bus travel.

Members should “resist attempts to divide our society, and instead show support to people who have come to Scotland seeking sanctuary and new beginnings”, a statement from the churches said.

Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy, who will lead the debate, said the motion he laid in Parliament will show how “out of touch” the Scottish Government is, and that it is only his party which is “on the side of the public on this issue”.

He added: “The SNP and the other left-wing parties at Holyrood are completely disconnected from Scots and believe this policy is the right thing to do.

“We disagree.”

He said the money spent on the policy could instead be used to give “thousands of Scots pensioners a winter fuel payment right now”.

The Scottish Greens accused the Tories of “fanning the flames of hate and division” to win votes from backers of Reform UK, which has been surging in the polls ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election.