Not racist to question free bus travel for asylum seekers, says Alba’s McEleny

There is “nothing racist” about politicians questioning Scottish Government plans to spend millions providing free bus travel for asylum seekers, a senior figure in the Alba Party has insisted.

Chris McEleny, the general secretary of the pro-independence party that was founded by the late Alex Salmond, was speaking after the Scottish Conservatives came under fire at Holyrood when they criticised the move.

A Tory motion came in for cross-party attack for condemning the use of £2 million in the draft 2025-26 Budget to provide free bus travel for asylum seekers, saying the cash “could have instead been used to provide 6,600 pensioners in Scotland with a full winter heating payment”.

First Minister John Swinney blasted the motion as “populist rubbish”, while Finance Secretary Shona Robison branded it a “Farage-esque dog whistle attack on asylum seekers”.

Labour’s Michael Marra described asylum seekers as being amongst the “most vulnerable people in our society” who had “fled unimaginable situations of war, famine and persecution”, with Green MSP Ross Greer calling the Tory motion “nasty and desperate”, and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton describing it as “depressing”.

However Mr McEleny, who stood as an Alba candidate in this summer’s general election, told the PA news agency: “There is nothing racist about people questioning at the same time why millions should be spent on free bus travel for asylum seekers.

“Nearly half the country disagree with the policy and those people aren’t going to come on board if politicians sneer at the public as they lecture them.”

Mr McEleny said asylum seekers “receive limited support for living costs from the UK Government” and also tend to be “housed centrally within communities and close to any essential services they need to access”.

As a result, he said it is therefore “completely legitimate to ask what benefit this policy would have and if there is not a better way you could spend money in communities”.