Burgh councillor raises fears over scope for ‘migrant exploitation’

Councillor Math Campbell-Sturgess was responding to a recent report by Police Scotland, presented to Argyll and Bute Council's community services committee. The local policing plan did not include specifics around exploitation, but the SNP councillor said a recent report from the University of Nottingham showed migrant workers - including in Argyll and Bute - were facing exploitation, labour rights and racial abuse in the fishing industry. Some workers in the fishing industry were working 20-hour shifts for just GBP3.50 an hour, according to the report's findings.

Cllr Campbell-Sturgess, who represents Helensburgh and Lomond South, said proposed changes at Westminster to immigration laws removing protections for modern slavery raised further changes locally. He said: "These changes, if enacted, will almost certainly lead to an increase in exploitation in Argyll and Bute, where our rural economy sees many migrant workers - especially during the summer, in farming, fishing and the tourism sectors. "The vast majority of those workers are well treated and properly paid, but the report from the University of Nottingham shows that a small number will be being subjected to horrific racial abuse, sexual assaults, being underpaid and facing unsafe working conditions."

The councillor called the Westminster proposals "appalling and grotesque" and said it would almost certianly breach various international treaties, according to the UN. He continued: "Our local policing plan needs to be prepared for the increase in exploitation it will cause. "We know from the reports that exploitation is already occurring here, and police have had limited success in stamping it out.

"The response I received from the senior officers was encouraging that they are aware of the concerns, but I shall be pursuing this further to ensure resources are in place so that if the abhorrent legislation the Tories are proposing is brought in, we can seek to mitigate the damage here." Addressing MPs in the House of Commons last week, home secretary Suella Braverman said: "For too long, those of us voicing concerns about the effects of uncontrolled, unprecedented and illegal migration have been accused of inflammatory rhetoric. But nothing is more likely to inflame tensions than ignoring the public's reasonable concerns about the current situation.

"The public are neither stupid nor bigoted.

They can see first-hand the impact on their communities and it's irresponsible to suggest otherwise."

"However, the only way to guarantee that Scotland never again has damaging, unwelcome and international-law breaking legislation imposed upon us against our will is for Scotland to become and independent country."