Around 50 asylum seekers will be housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge ‘in the coming days’, immigration minister Robert Jenrick confirms after delays to first arrivals due to safety concerns
- Robert Jenrick confirmed the first migrant arrivals will enter the barge this week
- He plans to increase capacity on the barge from 200 to 500 despite safety fears
Nearly 50 asylum seekers will be housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge ‘in the coming days’, the immigration minister has said after a series of delays amid safety concerns.
Robert Jenrick confirmed the first migrant arrivals will enter the vessel in Portland Port, Dorset, as part of a tranche this week. He said increasing the numbers on the barge to the capacity of around 500 is still the plan.
He offered a guarantee that it is a ‘safe facility’ after the firefighters’ union warned it is a ‘potential deathtrap’, citing concerns including overcrowding and access to fire exits.
Labour and the Conservatives are hotly contesting the issue of migration as the Government kicks off a ‘small boats week’ of linked announcements.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and ‘his activist friends’ of ‘doing their best to sabotage our efforts’ to tackle small boats.
It comes as a further 77 people were detected arriving across the English Channel in two boats yesterday, taking the Home Office’s provisional total for the year so far to 15,071.
Nearly 50 asylum seekers will be housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge ‘in the coming days’, the immigration minister has said. The barge is pictured today in an aerial photograph
Robert Jenrick (pictured on Sky News today) confirmed the first migrant arrivals will enter the vessel in Portland Port, Dorset, as part of a tranche this week. He said increasing the numbers on the barge to the capacity of around 500 is still the plan
His remarks come as a further 77 people were detected arriving across the English Channel in two boats yesterday, taking the Home Office’s provisional total for the year so far to 15,071. Migrants are pictured arriving in Dover, Kent on Friday
The Bibby Stockholm in Portland Port, Dorset, is the first barge the Government has procured to house asylum seekers while their claims are processed.
After a series of delays, it still has no migrants living on it. Various expected dates have been given and then missed for the first people to be housed on it, but Mr Jenrick said it will be this week.
‘We hope that the first migrants will go on to the boat in the coming days, I’m not going to give you an exact date – but very soon,’ he told Sky News this morning.
‘For security reasons we prefer not to give the dates on which individuals arrive.
‘You won’t have long to wait. This is an important step forwards.
‘I can absolutely assure you that this is a safe facility.’
He said increasing the numbers on the barge to the capacity of around 500 is still the plan despite concerns from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) over the vessel initially designed to house about 200.
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said today that the barges would be used by a Labour government to house asylum seekers for a ‘very short’ period while the cases backlog is tackled.
Mr Kinnock said former military bases would also continue to be used for a period of possibly around six months during work to bring down claims delays from a record high.
The Bibby Stockholm in Portland Port, Dorset, is the first barge the Government has procured to house asylum seekers while their claims are processed. Pictured: A view of the sign at the entrance to Portland Port
Mr Jenrick said increasing the numbers on the barge to the capacity of around 500 is still the plan despite concerns from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) over the vessel initially designed to house about 200. Workers are pictured leaving the barge today during what is believed to be a fire drill
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has previously indicated she would not be able to immediately shut down the sites but declined to be explicit about the policy.
Social media firms vow to crack down on posts from people-trafficking Channel gangs luring migrants to the UK: READ MORE HERE
A group of people thought to be migrants crossing the Channel in a small boat headed in the direction of Dover, Kent (File Photo)
On Sunday, Mr Kinnock told BBC Breakfast: ‘The reality is that we’ve got tens of thousands of people in hotels, we need to get them out of hotels and we need to get them off the barges and out of the military camps too.
‘Because of the complete and utter chaos and shambles of the Tory asylum crisis, we are going to have to continue in a very short-term period to use the infrastructure that is there, including the barges and the hotels.’
Mr Kinnock said he cannot give a specific timeline as ministers work to bring down the decisions backlog from a record high of more than 172,000 cases.
The Labour MP added: ‘We will be forced to use these contingency measures because of the mess the Government has made.
‘I’m confident that within six months of a Labour government we will be getting on top of the backlog and clearing people out of hotels and putting them into suitable accommodation, or removing them from the country properly because they have no right to be here.’
It comes as the Government continues to stress its commitment to tackling the small boats crisis.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to ‘stop the boats’ as one of his five priorities for the nation, but people keep making the perilous crossing of the Channel.
Ms Braverman accused Labour of ‘sabotaging’ their efforts to tackle the migrant crisis, saying: ‘Sir Keir Starmer is secretly delighted at his web of cronies’ schemes to block our plans to stop the boats.’
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock (pictured today) said that the barges would be used by a Labour government to house asylum seekers for a ‘very short’ period while the cases backlog is tackled
Mr Kinnock said former military bases would also continue to be used for a period of possibly around six months during work to bring down claims delays from a record high. Workers are pictured unloading water jugs at the barge on Friday
Mr Jenrick offered a guarantee that it is a ‘safe facility’ after the firefighters’ union warned it is a ‘potential deathtrap’, citing concerns including overcrowding and access to fire exits. Workers are pictured at the barge on Friday
She also admitted in an interview with the Mail On Sunday: ‘It’s going to be a tough summer. I look closely at what the incoming flows are like, and we still have too many people coming across the Channel.
‘We still need to honour our pledge to the British people to stop the boats.’
A Tory attack dossier links an immigration lawyer who has celebrated blocking a Rwanda deportation flight to the Labour Party.
Jacqueline McKenzie, head of immigration and asylum law at legal firm Leigh Day, served on Labour’s race equality task force, led by Baroness Doreen Lawrence.
But Ms McKenzie pointed out she also served on a Windrush scandal advisory panel led by then Conservative home secretary Priti Patel.
‘As a solicitor I represent my clients to ensure the law is applied accurately to their cases, the outcome of which is determined by the courts,’ the lawyer said.
‘I have not been involved in the judicial review challenge to the Rwanda migration and economic development partnership, but two of the most senior judges in the UK has ruled that the plan is unlawful.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured on left in May) has vowed to ‘stop the boats’ as one of his five priorities for the nation, but people keep making the perilous crossing of the Channel. Home Secretary Suella Braverman (right) has accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and ‘his activist friends’ of ‘doing their best to sabotage our efforts’ to tackle small boats.
Labour claimed it will take until 2036 to clear the existing backlog for removals of failed asylum seekers, with nearly 40,000 awaiting removal in the latest figures.
The Opposition also accused the Government of ‘cooking the books’ to fulfil the pledge of bringing under control the asylum decision backlog after it hit a record high of more than 172,000 cases.
More than 6,000 asylum seekers were wiped off the decisions backlog for reasons including failing to fill in questionnaires under the new fast track scheme, it emerged.
But Mr Jenrick denied any attempt to massage the figures, and accused Labour of producing ‘completely fanciful’ figures.
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