LABOUR yesterday admitted it would house Channel migrants in barges and converted Army bases — despite moaning about the plans for months.
The climbdown came as ministers insisted the first lot of migrants will move into the Bibby Stockholm barge off the Dorset coast “in the coming days”.
Labour’s Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said: “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.
“But 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.”
Labour said it will take the current Government until 2036 to clear the backlog of failed asylum-seekers.
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Quizzed by Sky News about the delays to using the barge now moored at Portland, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: “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.
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“For security reasons we prefer not to give the dates on which individuals arrive.
“I’m not going to give you an exact date — but very soon.”
“You won’t have long to wait.”
He added: “I can absolutely assure you this is a safe facility.”
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