First 50 asylum seekers anticipated to be despatched to Bibby Stockholm barge on Tuesday
T
he Home Office is anticipating to ship an preliminary 50 individuals to the UK’s first floating barge for asylum seekers on Tuesday regardless of security issues and native opposition.
A Whitehall supply confirmed the small print of the primary arrivals on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, and numbers are as a consequence of rise progressively over the approaching months.
The floating facility will host round 500 males at a time beneath Government efforts to scale back using resorts to deal with individuals awaiting the outcomes of asylum claims.
A document backlog and hundreds of individuals making unauthorised crossings of the Channel have strained the system as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak battles to “stop the boats”.
But refugee charities mentioned using barges and former army bases to deal with asylum seekers is damaging to the wants of susceptible individuals, and in addition raised issues for migrants’ security.
Conservative MPs representing areas the place the services are being established have additionally been fearful about how their constituencies can be impacted.
A month delayed after present process repairs, Bibby Stockholm was met by protesters because it arrived in Portland Port on Tuesday final week.
Some residents have raised issues for his or her security on the island with a inhabitants of round 13,000 and argued that it doesn’t have the infrastructure to offer for the newcomers and people already there.
A Home Office spokeswoman mentioned: “The Bibby Stockholm has completed a statutory inspection and refurbishment and is now berthing in Portland.
“The welfare of those in our care is of the utmost priority and the barge is now undergoing final preparations to ensure it complies with all appropriate regulations before the arrival of the first asylum seekers in the coming weeks.”