SUCCESSION star Brian Cox has defended student migration to Scotland in a BBC interview amid record high migration figures.
The Scottish actor was taking part in the Sunday with Laura Kuensberg panel on BBC One, where Tory immigration minister Robert Jenrick was quizzed by the programme's host on an incident in London.
It comes after the Home Office announced that post-graduates on non-research courses would no longer be able to bring family members to the UK, prompting outrage.
Around 40 refugees were “left on the street” in Westminster for two nights, after the group apparently refused to enter a Pimlico hotel where the Home Office had asked them to sleep “four people per room”.
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On Friday morning, around 20 people were still camped outside the Comfort Inn in protest at the cramped conditions inside, according to the council.
On Sunday, Jenrick denied it was Government policy to tell asylum seekers they have to share four to a room in hotels, but said it was “completely fair and reasonable” to ask single adult males to share a room.
Following the interview with Jenrick, Cox was asked for his view on the immigration row and the incident in Pimlico.
“I think it’s very hard to have the broader perspective, quite frankly, because of the nature of the individual cases, the individual group,” Cox said.
“I mean I think we've seen a lot of that. I mean, I think Brexit has a lot to do with that. I think Covid has certainly got a lot to do with what's happened.”
Cox added that the UK is the “last stop on the map” before you go further west, adding: “I think that this country has represented certain things but of course, you get the criminal element over exploiting it and that's why I think we have such a huge amount.”
However, the Succession star took a slight change in tact and added that he wanted to highlight the importance of international students for Scotland.
“I’d also like to talk about the student thing, because this student thing is very different in Scotland than it is down here,” he said.
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“We depend on students and international students.
“I was the rector of Dundee University for several years, so I know how important that was and how important it was to include these extraordinarily talented people to come and study here.”
We previously told how Westminster’s move to ban families of international students was branded “self-destructive”, as overseas students contribute more than £4 billion to the Scottish economy.
It comes as Jenrick denied it was UK Government policy to tell asylum seekers they have to share four to a room in hotels, but said it was “completely fair and reasonable” to ask single adult males to share a room.
He said: “No, that’s not right, but what we are saying is that we want to reduce dependence on hotels.
“We don’t want to be using hotels at all. These are taking away valuable assets for the local business community, for society, you know, people’s weddings and personal events have had to be cancelled because of that.
“But where we are using them, it’s right that we get good value for money for the taxpayer.
“And so if single adult males can share a room, and it’s legal to do so, which will obviously depend on the size of the accommodation, then we’ll ask people to do that.
“I think that’s a completely fair and reasonable approach.”
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