Glasgow is currently supporting more asylum seekers than any other local council area in the UK.

Official figures on the number of people whose status is asylum seekers and which local authority area they are show the share of the burden being shouldered by Glasgow.

The data, seen by the Glasgow Times, shows Glasgow at the moment is home to almost 5000 asylum seekers.

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The UK Government operates a dispersal programme where people are sent around the four nations as well as people finding their own way to Glasgow.

The city has 4494 asylum seekers currently housed in accommodation waiting for a decision on their claim.

Only Birmingham has a higher number at 4555 but when the size of the population is taken into account asylum seekers account for 0.71 of people in Glasgow and just 0.40% in Birmingham.

Manchester has 2722 people seeking asylum, Liverpool 2738 and Belfast 2299.

Oher big UK cities also have fewer than Glasgow. Sheffield has 2075 or 0.37%, Cardiff, 1928, Leeds 2791 or 0.34%.

A decision last year by the UK Home Office to speed up applications has led to more people either granted refugee status or refused and either way forced to leave their Home Office provided accommodation and many presenting as homeless to the council.

It has led to calls from city leaders for the UK Government to provide extra support to allow council and other services to be able to cope with the increased demand.

 Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council said: "It has been the case for many years that a proportionately higher number of asylum seekers have been dispersed here compared to our population.

“For many years, we have been a beacon for successful integration of refugees into Glasgow’s communities.

"Glasgow has been enriched by being part of the asylum dispersal process in spite of the significant challenges posed by the Home Office and wider UK Government refusal to fund dispersal appropriately.”

Over the winter there have been ore people reporting as homeless and more people unable to be accommodated and the asylum process has been identified as a significant factor. 

Aitken added: "Their recent decisions are pushing cities to the breaking point, fuelling community unrest, increasing levels of homelessness and rough sleeping and costing local government millions of pounds to deal with.

"They need to get round the table with cities and work with us to provide funding to deal with the impact of their decisions and reduce the harmful impact it is having on people going through the asylum process and those supporting them."