Key Points
- Edinburgh councillors voted to formally condemn UK Home Office immigration raids and hostile environment policies across the city.
- Green Councillor Dan Heap brought forward the motion with SNP backing to look into creating a council anti-raids policy.
- Council officers will examine how local staff, data systems, and council facilities currently assist UK Immigration Enforcement teams.
- The decision asks officials to assess how Edinburgh could adopt sanctuary city principles and limit council involvement in enforcement actions.
- Home Office data shows arrests for illegal working in Scotland rose 49 per cent to 400 in 2025, while Edinburgh logged 270 enforcement visits between January 2020 and July 2023.
Edinburgh (Edinburgh Daily News) August 28, 2026 — The City of Edinburgh Council has officially voted to condemn UK Government migration raids and hostile environment policies, taking steps to restrict local authority involvement in federal enforcement actions. Proposed by Green Councillor Dan Heap and supported by the SNP, the decision instructs council officers to review local services, data-sharing protocols, and facilities to explore establishing a formal anti-raids posture for the city.
As reported by political reporters at The Herald, Scottish Green Councillor Dan Heap brought forward the motion during full council proceedings. The text asks council officers to investigate how the city can pull back local support for UK Home Office enforcement operations where legally permitted. Addressing the chamber, as reported by The Herald, Councillor Dan Heap described the immigration operations as part of a “relentless ongoing drive to transform the UK into a hostile environment for racialised communities”.
The motion instructs council officers to produce a detailed report assessing “what actions are currently undertaken by the council to support or facilitate Home Office migration raids” and to evaluate “what would be involved in establishing a formal anti-raids policy for the council”. Additionally, officers have been tasked with auditing all data-sharing protocols and service-level agreements to verify that municipal services do not inadvertently contribute to a “digital hostile environment”.
What Do Supporters and Critics Say About the Anti-Raids Motion?
As reported by journalists at The National and The Herald, Councillor Dan Heap explained that the primary motivation behind the motion is to mitigate the local impact of enforcement tactics on communities. Speaking to The Herald, Councillor Dan Heap stated: “We are making inquiries as to how far the council’s officials and processes are involved in these migration raids. We believe that they shouldn’t be given the very negative impact they have, both on the people and the families that are the subject of the raids, but also the broader communities”. Heap further remarked: “We know that when people come to Edinburgh from elsewhere for all kinds of different reasons, Edinburgh is so welcoming and they become part of our communities”.
The proposal gained significant legislative backing from the SNP group within the council, allowing it to pass. Under the terms of the agreed policy, the council would agree not to take any action to support or facilitate enforcement raids within the local authority area, except where explicitly required by law.
The political dynamics within the City of Edinburgh Council reflect broader debates over UK immigration policy. While the Scottish Greens hold 10 seats and the SNP holds 17 seats, the council operates under no overall control, with a minority Labour administration running the council alongside informal backing from Liberal Democrat (14) and Conservative (10) members. Opponents of sanctuary city stances historically argue that local authorities have a duty to cooperate with national law enforcement agencies and respect federal statutory mandates regarding border control and illegal employment enforcement.
What Data and Historical Events Preceded the Council’s Decision?
As reported by The Herald, official Home Office statistics released earlier in the month disclosed that 400 people were arrested for working illegally in Scotland during 2025. This marked a 49 per cent surge compared to 2024, when 269 individuals were detained. Since 2019, total enforcement arrests in Scotland related to illegal employment have exceeded 1,200.
Furthermore, figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request cited by The Herald revealed that Home Office personnel executed 270 Immigration Enforcement visits within Edinburgh between January 2020 and July 2023. Of these recorded visits, 54 took place directly at residential addresses.
Public resistance to Home Office raids in Scotland has a notable history. As noted by reporters at The National, a major demonstration occurred in May 2022 in the Newington area of Edinburgh. Over 100 residents and activists assembled at Nicolson Square, near the University of Edinburgh campus, blocking a Home Office enforcement vehicle after officers attempted to detain individuals at a nearby establishment. Police Scotland officers eventually assisted in removing the enforcement personnel, forcing the Home Office to abandon the detention without arresting anyone. Home Office representatives later criticized the demonstrators’ actions as “unacceptable”. That event echoed the May 2021 Kenmure Street standoff in Pollokshields, Glasgow, where hundreds of community members successfully blocked an immigration detention van during a six-hour protest.
Background of the Particular Development
The concept of a local authority adopting an “anti-raids” posture or “sanctuary city” status originates from municipal policy models implemented across several jurisdictions globally. As noted by legal analyses from the US Library of Congress, sanctuary policies generally limit local police or municipal staff from assisting federal authorities in civil immigration enforcement, provided those actions do not conflict with mandatory criminal law enforcement obligations.
In Scotland, constitutional powers regarding immigration and border security are strictly reserved to the UK Parliament at Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998. However, devolved public services—including housing, social work, local policing assistance, and municipal infrastructure—fall within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Government and local councils. Over recent years, political friction between Westminster’s enforcement strategies and Scottish local authorities has increased. Elected officials in Edinburgh and Glasgow have frequently argued that aggressive enforcement tactics disrupt social cohesion, create public safety concerns during civil blockades, and undermine trust between migrant communities and local public services. The motion passed by Edinburgh City Council represents a formal administrative attempt to draw a line between mandatory statutory duty and discretionary local support.
Prediction: How This Development Can Affect Edinburgh Residents and Public Services
The adoption of this motion and the subsequent report by council officers could significantly reshape local governance, community relations, and law enforcement interactions within Edinburgh:
- For Migrant and Local Communities: Residents in diverse areas of Edinburgh may experience a reduction in municipal participation in civil immigration enforcement. If the council strictly limits its data-sharing agreements and facility access, vulnerable individuals may feel safer accessing essential local public services—such as municipal housing support, community healthcare programs, and educational facilities—without fear of administrative referral to the Home Office.
- For Council Administration and Legal Operations: Local authority staff will face clearer legal boundaries regarding what assistance they are mandated to provide versus what can be withheld. However, this creates potential legal friction between the City of Edinburgh Council and the UK Home Office. If council policies are deemed to impede statutory enforcement functions, it could spark court challenges or legislative counter-measures from Westminster.
- For Public Order and Police Scotland: By formally establishing a stance against raids, the council aligns itself with civil society groups that oppose sudden enforcement operations. While Police Scotland remains a national body separate from local councils, clear municipal opposition to enforcement visits may influence operational planning surrounding public safety, potentially altering how public assemblies and anti-raid protests are managed in residential streets like Nicolson Square.
