The former first minister warned the toxicity of the debate around immigration had “managed to find its way up here”.
Scotland is becoming more intolerant as “toxicity” around the immigration debate spreads north of the border, Humza Yousaf has warned.
And the ex-first minister said politicians have not engaged enough with genuine concerns around immigration. It comes as research from Migration Policy Scotland suggested opinions on immigration are “cooling”.
Yousaf was speaking on a new BBC Scotland radio documentary – Scotland Wants You – on whether the country is more open to migrants than other parts of the UK.
Yousaf, who resigned as SNP leader in April 2024 after he ended a powersharing deal with the Greens, was the first Scottish Asian and Muslim to serve in the country’s highest elected role.
He was a frequent critic of the then Tory UK Government’s immigration policy – branding the Rwanda deportation plan “morally repugnant”.
Speaking to the documentary, Yousaf took issue with the phrase “we’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns” – the suggestion that everyone is welcome in Scotland.
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He said: “The idea we’re all Jock Tamson’s Bairns is a very nice soundbite, and one that I’ve used on plenty of occasions in the past.
“We use these soundbites to perhaps mask the fact that people have genuine concerns about immigration – but I would suggest misplaced concerns.”
Yousaf added: “I have to say, in recent months and over the past couple of years, it is a feeling that the toxicity of the debate around immigration and multiculturalism has managed to find its way up here.
“Scotland I’m afraid, of course, is becoming more intolerant – both in the public space and frankly I’ve seen some of that intolerance in the political space too.”
Sarah Kyambi from Migration Policy Scotland has overseen research on Scottish attitudes for the past three years.She told the programme: “Scottish attitudes to immigration are cooling.
“More people want to see the level of immigration reduced than they did last year or the year before
“That cooling is from a point when we first started the survey – a point when the largest cohort in our survey wanted to see an increase in immigration.
“But now the level of support for immigration reduction are increasing.
“I think there is a narrative about where Scotland sits on immigration that I worry leads to a kind of complacency.
“The idea that there is an inherent greater positivity amongst the Scottish policy towards immigration is likely to be mistaken.”
The think tank holds regular surveys on the issue, and it heard from more than 2,300 people across all of Scotland in February last year.
In May, immigration entered the list of Scots’ top five concerns for the first time, according to the separate Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker from the Diffley Partnership and the David Hume Institute.
Richard Tice of Reform said attitudes are hardening because people are not feeling better off.
He told the programme: “Scottish people are concerned by some of the impact of illegal immigration and too much legal immigration.
“People are questioning what they’ve been told by politicians.
“They’re saying: I think you’ve got this wrong.
“If politicians tell the good voters that immigration is going to make everyone better off – then people get worse off – people start to ask, quite rightly, serious questions.”
The documentary is presented by the BBC’s Nick Eardley and airs on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on Sunday at 1.30pm.
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