Giant barge that will house 500 migrants docks in Falmouth for refit
Giant barge that will house 500 migrants docks in Falmouth for refit - with ministers promising more to come
By James Tapsfield, Political Editor[1] and Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline[2]
Published: 07:59, 9 May 2023 | Updated: 09:01, 9 May 2023
A giant barge that will house 500 migrants has docked in Cornwall - with ministers promising more vessels in the future.
The Bibby Stockholm has arrived in Falmouth for renovations ahead of going into service next month.
It was towed from Italy and will now undergo safety checks as well as being refitted to increase the onboard capacity from just over 200 people.[3]
The vessel will be moved into position off Dorset in the middle of June, and used for single adult male asylum seekers.
Confirming the plan last month, immigration minister Robert Jenrick[4] said it will help trim the GBP6million-a-day cost of housing Channel migrants in hotels.
The Bibby Stockholm has arrived in Falmouth for renovations ahead of going into service next month
An aerial view of the barge being accompanied by tug boats into Falmouth
The barge was towed from Italy and with now undergo safety checks as well as being refitted to increase the onboard capacity from just over 200 people
He also claimed it would help 'prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe'.
The Home Office said it was in discussion with other ports and further barges would be announced 'in due course'.
The Bibby Stockholm barge will provide 'basic and functional accommodation' as well as healthcare and catering facilities when it is berthed at Portland in Dorset, according to the Home Office.
The Port of Portland is also set to welcome more than 40 cruise ships over the course of the year, and usually advertises arrival and departure dates on its website to help residents and local businesses plan for busy periods.
But it has now removed the dates, with a source telling The Times[5] that bosses feared far-right activists would arrange protests when there were large numbers of tourists in the area to maximise their impact.
There will also be round-the-clock security on board to 'minimise the disruption to local communities'.
However, the Government is facing stiff local opposition to positioning the Bibby Stockholm at a popular beauty spot.
This is despite suggestions that local councils could be paid up to GBP3,500 per migrant to accept barges in their ports.
There has also been a backlash from charities and human rights campaigners who say the accommodation is not fit for people fleeing war.
The barge includes a gym, games room and bar. It also has 'delicious, nutritious food' in its restaurant and Wi-Fi throughout the ship.
The vessel will be moved into position off Dorset in the middle of June
An aerial view of the barge, which is spread over three storeys and will house around 500 migrants
The barge, operated by Liverpool-based Bibby Marine features a games room and bar
The barge offers 'delicious, nutritious food' in its restaurant and Wi-Fi throughout the ship
The vessel can house up to 506 people in 222 en-suite bedrooms who will be free to come and go while their asylum claims are processed
The barge, operated by Liverpool-based Bibby Marine, can house up to 506 people in 222 en-suite bedrooms.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the barge would save taxpayers' money.
'We are spending, as a country, GBP6million a day housing illegal asylum seekers in hotels - that can't be right,' he said.
It comes as the reopening of two immigration detention centres has been delayed by at least six months in a fresh blow to Suella Braverman's borders crackdown.
Mothballed facilities in Hampshire and Oxfordshire were due to be brought back into use by this summer.
But they will not now be ready until early next year at the earliest, sources said.
The delay casts doubt on the Government's plan to 'detain and swiftly remove' Channel migrants under new measures in the Illegal Migration Bill, which is currently before Parliament.
There are just 2,500 existing beds in Britain's immigration detention centres, which means the system will not be able to keep pace with the number of small boat arrivals.
Among last year's 45,700 total, 8,600 reached UK shores during August alone and the highest daily total was almost 1,300.
Single adult males will be housed on the barge while their asylum claims are processed
A gym inside the barge, which is owned by Liverpool based company Bibby Marine
It will be the first time asylum seekers in the UK have been housed on an accommodation barge - which is normally used for maritime or offshore workers
The Bibby Stockholm will offer 'basic and functional accommodation, healthcare provision, catering facilities and 24/7 security
Government tenders to run disused centres Campfield House, near Oxford, and Haslar, at Gosport, Hampshire, closed in January.
Under the GBP450million, six-year contracts the centres were both due to be up and running by August. They will hold an extra 1,000 detainees in total.
The Bill is due to face strong opposition in the House of Lords in the coming weeks but ministers still hope it will gain Royal Assent by the time Parliament's summer recess begins in July.
Once its measures are in place, 'irregular' migrants such as small boat arrivals will be detained rather than placed in controversial and costly hotel accommodation.
But the Home Office will need a major expansion of detention capacity if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to remove Channel migrants is to be met.
Prisons cannot be used because they are already full, with inmates being kept in police station cells under an emergency scheme.
Sources said the reopening of the two additional detention centres is now delayed until early next year.
Reasons for the hold-up are not known.
However, ministers are hoping the threat of detention and removal - to Rwanda or another safe country - will deter migrants from crossing the Channel in the first place.
On Saturday and Sunday the Home Office recorded 269 migrant arrivals into the UK.
Pictured are a group of people thought to be migrants in Dover on Sunday morning
Plans to reopen the two detention centres have been delayed until early next year (Pictured: Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire)
So far this year, 6,549 small boat migrants have reached the UK, 15 per cent down on the 7,752 who had arrived by the same point last year.
It is too early to say whether the Government's tough policies have already begun deterring migrants or whether the decline in numbers is down to the weather.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'Immigration removal-centre capacity will not cause delays to the passage of the Illegal Migration Bill.
'The Bill will enable us to remove people as quickly as possible, meaning they will be in detention for a shorter amount of time.
'We are also working to build these new sites as a priority, while looking at finding alternative solutions to further increase detention capacity.'
Meanwhile, new protections for free speech are in doubt as human rights reforms face the scrapheap.
Former justice secretary Dominic Raab's Bill of Rights, published last year, would have ditched Labour's Human Rights Act and made free speech a 'trump card' over other competing rights.
Ministers are hoping their tough approach will deter migrants from coming to UK shores (Pictured: Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire)
But his successor Alex Chalk is 'looking carefully' at the Bill, with scrapping it the most likely option, sources told The Times.
The Bill was designed to block the creation of European-style privacy laws by unelected judges through the back door.
However, in September Liz Truss' government shelved the legislation and said it was 'unlikely to progress in its current form'.
It was resurrected when Mr Raab returned to Rishi Sunak's Cabinet, but is now in doubt again after he was forced to resign in the wake of a bullying inquiry.
A Government source told the Times: 'Dom's departure sounded the death knell for the Bill of Rights.
It won't be coming back, or at least not in any form that resembles the current Bill.'
Another Government source described the legislation as a 'complete mess'.
References
- ^ James Tapsfield, Political Editor (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Italy (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Robert Jenrick (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ The Times (www.thetimes.co.uk)