Susan Aitken has stepped down as Glasgow City Council leader after nine years, with Ricky Bell taking over. Bell has announced that Glasgow can no longer accommodate the current influx of refugees and has proposed a moratorium on new arrivals, suggesting instead that existing refugees be relocated to neighbouring councils that have empty housing. This marks a shift from Glasgow's previous stance welcoming refugees.

Glasgow became an asylum dispersal city in 1999 when it volunteered under New Labour's National Asylum Support Service scheme, and remained in the scheme under SNP control for nearly a decade. The article explores the tension between the moral obligation to help refugees fleeing danger and the practical limits of housing and resources in a city with existing social problems. The author argues that while humanitarian duties are important, they require setting boundaries and budgets, and that legitimate discussion of these practical constraints should not be dismissed as opposition to helping refugees.