Mayor: UK should take responsibility for failing to remove asylum seekers from deadly barge

The mayor of Portland has said that the Home Office should take responsibility for failing to immediately remove asylum seekers from a barge found to house dangerous bacteria.

“The Home Office moved people on to the barge and it is the Home Office that should take full responsibility for it,” Carralyn Parkes said.

“The buck stops with the Home Office and Suella Braverman. The department may not have had sight of the appropriate test results, but it was up to the department to make sure that they were informed and removed asylum seekers off the barge as soon as they discovered there was a dangerous bacteria onboard.”

Asylum seekers remained on board The Bibby Stockholm, a new barge in Dorset which has been converted to house refugees, for four days after dangerous bacteria was detected.

Questions have been asked about which ministers knew about the discovery of the Legionella bacteria, which can cause the lung infection legionnaires’ disease, and when.

READ: Despite health risks, British Health Secretary wants migrants back on floating barge

Dorset council has said that Home Office contractors were told on Monday 7 August, but the 29 people on board only left the boat on Friday 11 August. The Home Office says it received written notification on the Wednesday.

Despite the presence of the bacteria, British Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said that they should be put back.

Two weeks ago, questions were raised over fire safety after firefighters called the barge a “potential death trap” due to overcrowding and access to fire exits.

The barge is made up of 222 cabins spread over three decks, and has only two exits. There are no lifejackets on board.

“The Home Office has been inconsistent and opaque in their decision making and their attempt to rush through the barge without proper consultation and consideration, which was always going to create problems,” Carralyn Parkes said at the time.

“The Bibby Stockholm is not a suitable place to house asylum seekers. It is still not too late to stop this. Human beings belong in communities.”

More than 100,000 asylum seekers have made the perilous journey from France across the English Channel in the past five years.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tried to stop small boat crossings as a top priority, but his plans for how to do so have been widely criticised. While many have criticised his policy as a means to deflect attention from his government’s failings with regards the state of the economy and NHS.