First 15 asylum seekers moved onto Bibby Stockholm barge

Aug 08, 2023 at 4:20 AM

The first 15 asylum seekers are actually on board the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge, based on the Home Office – though the federal government was unable to place one other 20 on the vessel.

Around 50 folks had been anticipated to maneuver onboard the vessel, docked in Portland Port in Dorset, on Monday after weeks of delays to the scheme.

Cheryl Avery, the director for asylum lodging on the Home Office, mentioned the primary “cohort” had been “successfully onboarded”, however there had been “some challenges”.

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Those presently on the barge are anticipated to remain there for between three and 9 months whereas their claims are processed, she added.

The Bibby Stockholm is certainly one of quite a lot of different websites the Home Office is utilizing to finish reliance on costly lodges for asylum seekers, which the federal government says is costing £6m a day.

However, there was appreciable native opposition as a result of considerations in regards to the asylum seekers’ welfare and the influence on native companies.

Protesters gathered at Portland Harbour on Monday with welcome packs containing toiletries and speak to particulars of organisations providing help to migrants.

Care4Calais claimed it had stopped round 20 asylum seekers from numerous places from boarding the barge, together with individuals who have disabilities, individuals who have had traumatic experiences crossing the ocean and victims of torture and trendy slavery.

The charity mentioned it’s going to proceed working with asylum seekers who do not wish to be moved into the lodging.

Ms Avery mentioned she couldn’t go into particulars about particular person authorized circumstances, however the presents of housing on the barge had been on a “no choice basis”.

She wouldn’t verify when the Bibby Stockholm would attain its 500-person capability however mentioned {that a} “phased and controlled approach” can be taken.

The 222-bedroom barge will finally maintain 500 single males, with numbers anticipated to extend regularly over time.

There have been delays to transferring folks to the positioning after security considerations had been raised, with the Fire Brigades Union branding it a “potential death trap” and warning in regards to the threat of overcrowding.

Downing Street advised Home Office minister Sarah Dines misspoke when she mentioned earlier on Monday that the lodging may attain full capability by the top of the week.

Asked in regards to the remark, the prime minister’s official spokesman mentioned: “We are looking to (reach) that number over time – I don’t think we are aiming to do it by the weekend.”

Ms Dines informed Sky News the barge “sends a forceful message” that individuals who cross the Channel can be housed in lodging that’s “proper… but not luxury” – claiming lodges are a part of the “pull” issue attracting folks to the UK.

Read extra:
Asylum seekers face losing support if they don’t board barge
Home Office must work three times faster to clear backlog

The first residents are on board however the controversy reveals no signal of going away

Given the string of delays and months of ready – many questioned whether or not the Bibby Stockholm would ever really host an asylum seeker.

But at lunchtime, the fact of the federal government’s plan got here to fruition.

The first of a collection of blue coaches pulled previous us – we may see younger males inside – their bus met by cops on the gates of Portland Port.

They’ve already been in lodges for months, now we noticed them pulling suitcases up the gangway on to a barge.

As the coaches filed previous, campaigners wheeled 50 paper luggage – ‘welcome packs’ we’re informed – to the port entrance, every containing toiletries, pens, notebooks and an area map.

A small group of protesters gathered on the harbour slipway and we noticed an argument brewing between two of them.

“They’re economic migrants!” one man mentioned, elevating his voice. “They come here just for the money!”

“That’s a myth,” a person from the Stand Up To Racism Dorset group responded. “People come from war zones, they come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria – they’ve got the right to claim asylum and we support them.”

As the residents decide on board, the priority over security and the influence on the area people continues.

The Bibby is now in operation, however the controversy reveals no signal of going away.

Hotels now housing 50,000 asylum seekers

The arrival of individuals on the barge coincided with a launch of information by the federal government exhibiting the variety of asylum seekers residing in lodges – paid for by the taxpayer – had climbed to greater than 50,000.

Labour contrasted this with Home Secretary Suella Braverman saying there have been 40,000 people in the accommodation in December final 12 months.

In whole, 50,546 folks had been being housed in lodges as of 30 June 2023.

This comes after Rishi Sunak promised to “stop the boats” in January. In December final 12 months he claimed within the House of Commons that his authorities had “already identified locations that could accommodate 10,000 people” – and was planning to search out extra.

A complete of 339 folks crossed the Channel on Friday and Saturday, with none making the journey on Sunday throughout unhealthy climate.

Total arrivals up to now for 2023 stand at 15,071, which is 15% down on final 12 months, the most recent figures counsel.

However, that’s considerably increased than the ten,703 arrivals that had been detected at this level in 2021.

Shadow dwelling secretary Yvette Cooper mentioned: “Rishi Sunak is failing to fix the Tories’ boats chaos and the Conservatives are just flailing around chasing headlines rather than getting a grip.”

Barge ‘paying homage to jail hulks from the Victorian period’

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, mentioned: “It seems there’s nothing this government won’t do to make people seeking asylum feel unwelcome and unsafe in this country.

“Reminiscent of the jail hulks from the Victorian period, the Bibby Stockholm is an totally shameful method to home individuals who’ve fled terror, battle and persecution.”

He added that “slightly than wrecking the asylum system”, the government “ought to pretty and effectively decide folks’s claims as an alternative of perpetuating expensive backlogs, human distress and organised felony exploitation”.

Alongside the barge, the federal government needs to accommodate folks in military sites and marquees.

Multiple stories have additionally advised the federal government is re-visiting plans for a processing centre in Ascension Island within the South Atlantic Ocean, if the long-touted Rwanda deportation scheme doesn’t get off the bottom.

Home Office minister Ms Dines wouldn’t verify or deny the plan however mentioned the federal government was “looking at all options”.

She mentioned on Monday morning “times change” and that the small boats disaster had develop into “urgent” when requested why the plan was reportedly being reconsidered after seemingly being rejected by Boris Johnson’s former authorities.

Downing Street additionally refused to be drawn on the “speculation” and mentioned it’s assured its plan to deport folks to the east African nation can be profitable within the courts.

This week is the federal government’s unofficial “small boats week”, the place it needs to speak about its efforts to get a grip on the variety of folks crossing the English Channel on a small boat.

Labour’s Ms Cooper added: “The prime minister admitted last December that hotel use was a serious problem and promised to end it, but instead since then it has gone up by a truly shocking 25% with more asylum hotels still opening, and the taxpayer having to pay billions more pounds as a result.

“This is the direct consequence of Tory mismanagement and their disastrous failure to hurry up asylum selections or clear the backlog which continues to be at a document excessive.”