Tories ‘deliberately trying to fuel hatred’ against asylum seekers, says Humza Yousaf
The former first minister of Scotland has accused the Tories of "deliberately trying to fuel hatred" against asylum seekers by presenting them as a threat to women and children.
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Humza Yousaf said politicians like Robert Jenrick were "reviving the old colonial lie that people from the east are somehow dangerous savages".
The former SNP leader said the Tories are 'not interested' in protecting women, adding that "blaming asylum seekers doesn't make women safer, it just makes society more divided, more suspicious, more willing to turn on the most vulnerable."
Mr Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has said he supports "every peaceful protest outside an asylum hotel" and later attended one outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, where an asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Protests at the hotel usually began peacefully, but quickly turned violent after far-right agitators became involved, including men with links to neo-nazi parties in the UK. 28 people arrested in relation to disorder outside the hotel.
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It isn't asylum seekers I need to protect my daughters from, it is men.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) August 20, 2025
Predatory men, who come from all backgrounds & nationalities.
When Tories single out one group of men, but not others, it's obvious they don't care about women's safety, they just want to divide society. pic.twitter.com/GyTUCwAwka
More demonstrations against asylum seekers staying in hotels have sprung up across the UK, including in Scotland, with some of those attending claiming they are making their communities less safe.
Jenrick, who previously ran for the Tory leadership, said small boat crossings in the English Channel amounted to a "national security emergency", adding: "The truth is that mass, uncontrolled immigration has been fuelling crime and made women and girls less safe. "
In a video posted to social media, Yousaf hit back at the Tory claims, saying it was "predatory men" who posed a danger to women, rather than people from any one group, such as asylum seekers.
He said: "As a father of three girls, let me tell you that it's not asylum seekers I'm worried about when it comes to my daughter's safety - it's men, predatory men, who come in every colour, every religion, are from every background.
"Of course, those who do commit heinous crimes against women, be they asylum seekers or those who have lived in the UK for 10 generations, they should and must feel the full force of the law.
"But when you purposely single out asylum seekers, as the Tories are doing, you're not interested in protecting women, you're deliberately trying to fuel hatred.
"You're reviving the old colonial lie that people from the east are somehow dangerous savages."
The former SNP leader said such rhetoric has turned "fear into mobs who are ready to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers", in reference to a riot in Rotherham last year in which a man who attempted to set fire to an asylum hotel.
"It leads to bricks through windows," he added. "It leads to fire bombs aimed at vulnerable families who've already fled war and persecution.
"And here's the truth, violence against women is committed by men from every walk of life.
"Blaming asylum seekers doesn't make women safer, it just makes society more divided, more suspicious, more willing to turn on the most vulnerable.
"What the Tories are doing isn't about women's safety, it's about stoking fear. It's the oldest populist trick in the book, let's make sure we don't fall."
A spokesperson for the Scottish Tories said: "We don't watch Humza Yousaf's videos."