REFUGEE rights campaigners have urged the Home Office and its contractors to close a controversial mother and baby unit in Glasgow that has seen women removed from private accommodation in the community. 

The #FreedomToCrawl campaign, launched in January as a coalition of support groups, has made fresh calls to remove new and expectant asylum-seeker mothers from cramped accommodation in the city, with some families having entered the unit in the past fortnight.

Since January, residents have repeatedly voiced their concerns about the mother and baby unit, run by Home Office contractor Mears, which remains in operation. 

Many of these women were moved out of settled accommodation within supportive communities and are now expected to stay in cramped bedsits with their babies for a year or more.

Campaigners have condemned the increasing use of this type of institutional setting to house asylum-seekers, raising concerns about the suitability and safety of the unit. 

Shelter Scotland’s Meghan O’Neill said: “We are dismayed at the Home Office for again sanctioning agents who show such little regard for the wellbeing of women and their children who desperately need safe, secure, and suitable accommodation.

“Housing and social care provider Mears Group have disregarded the standards of housing that we apply to temporary accommodation in Scotland and in doing so are turning their backs on single mothers and their children at a time of crisis.”

The #FreedomToCrawl campaign is calling for action and the Children’s Commissioner for Scotland has written to the Home Office contractor requesting an urgent review. 

Selina Hales, founder and chief executive of the Refuweegee charity, said: “[This is] yet further evidence in an already long list of failings from asylum housing.

“It is not the first time that accommodation deemed unfit for one is then repurposed and used for those seeking safety in our city. We can only hope that this action will mean it is the last.”

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions, calling for asylum housing contracts to be dealt with locally and kept in public hands.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged that her government would raise the issue with ministers at Westminster, but she added that the Tory administration was not interested in devolving further powers.

A Mears spokesman told the Star all accommodation meets guidelines set by the Home Office and is supported by local stakeholders. Bosses also offered to host campaigners. 

The Home Office and Mears were approached for comment.