UK to place 500 migrants in giant vessel

Bibby Stockholm, a barge owned by Bibby Marine Limited, remains docked on April 05, 2023 in Genoa, Italy. The British Home Office has announced that it will lease the floating hotel to house up to 500 asylum seekers in the UK, part of a plan to reduce the use of hotels. The barge will be docked at Portland Port, Dorset [Diletta Nicosia/Getty Images]

Britain confirmed plans, Tuesday, to hold hundreds of asylum seekers and migrants in a barge docked off the Dorset coast in southern England, despite intra-party opposition and legal action threats by residents, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Media reports said that the barge, called the “Bibby Stockholm”, has been leased by the government for an initial period of 18 months and will accommodate 500 single adult males while their claims are processed.

An estimated 51,000 migrants are believed to be staying in 395 hotels at a cost of more than £6 million ($7.4 million) per day. The Home Office said the new type of accommodation will be “basic” and “is significantly cheaper than hotels.”

Along with Dorset residents, the local Conservative MP for the area, Richard Drax, has threatened legal action against his party because of the floatels – a term used for floating hotels. Drax claimed the police force is not sufficient to provide security for the site.

The government recently laid out details of the plan which requires asylum seekers and migrants to be placed in former military barracks, barges and ships as it tries to cut costs of providing temporary hotel accommodation.

The plan has drawn ire from opposition parties, who claim immigration will get even worse and the plan will not reduce the use of hotels or the cost to house migrants at former military sites.

Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, complained of an “eye-watering £2.3 billion a year bill” for housing people as their claims are processed.

“Accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more” to stop the UK from becoming a “magnet” for those “better economic prospects”, he said.

Jenrick confirmed reports that three former military sites will be used to hold migrants and asylum seekers in “barracks” and “Portakabins”.

Yvette Cooper from the main opposition Labour Party, the shadow Home Secretary, said the plan is an “admission of failure” by the government and that the situation is “getting worse” under the Conservative party.

She said the government previously claimed it would stop using hotels but they are now “more than ever”.

READ: UK advances Illegal Migration Bill as protests continue

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