First asylum seekers board Bibby Stockholm – but how will this ‘potential deathtrap’ be remembered?
The first asylum seekers have arrived on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, as the Home Office suggests it could reach its capacity of 500 by the end of the week.
Around 50 people are believed to be in the first group to be moved to the boat under controversial government plans.
Rishi Sunak has said the accommodation will ‘help solve a serious problem’, telling LBC last week: ‘This is an example of me doing something different that hasn’t been done before.’
But dozens of human rights organisations and campaigners, including the Refugee Council and the Institute for Race Relations, signed an open letter last month saying the proposal was ‘cruel and inhumane’.
The firefighters’ union warned concerns over overcrowding and access to fire exits would make the Bibby Stockholm a ‘potential deathtrap’.
However, immigration minister Robert Jenrick offered a guarantee that it is a ‘safe facility’ and said it would welcome its first occupants ‘in the coming days’.
The boat was docked at Portland three weeks ago but sat empty until today as it continued to undergo safety checks.
Asked whether it would be at capacity by the end of this week, Home Office minister Sarah Dines told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Yes, quite possibly it will be 500. We are hoping.’
Ms Dines said those arriving in the country via unauthorised means should have ‘basic but proper accommodation’ and that they ‘can’t expect to stay in a four-star hotel’.
Pictures from on board the barge show a gym, a room with armchairs facing a TV, and basic bedrooms with a bunk bed and en suite toilets.
Demonstrators holding signs saying ‘refugees welcome’ were among those greeting the first arrivals in Portland.
One protester held a sign saying: ‘No more Grenfells – respect refugee lives!’
The latest development comes at the beginning of what the government has dubbed ‘small boats week’, during which several measures aimed at alleviating the crisis in the English Channel will be announced.
Fines for employers and landlords who allow people who arrive by irregular means to work for them or live in their properties are to be hugely increased.
Civil penalties for employers will be increased up to a maximum of £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 for repeat offenders, tripling both from the last increase in 2014.
Landlords face fines going from £1,000 per occupier to £10,000, with repeat breaches going from £3,000 to £20,000. Penalties relating to lodgers will also be hiked.
There have also been reports that the government is considering sending migrants to be processed on remote Ascension Island as a plan B if its Rwanda scheme does not go ahead.
The island, located halfway between Africa and South America in the South Atlantic Ocean, was originally floated as a potential site for the asylum centre by Priti Patel three years ago.
The proposals for a migrant processing site in Rwanda have hit a number of legal stumbling blocks, and no flights have yet taken place.
Inside the Bibby Stockholm barge
Basic beige rooms with metal bunk beds, disconnected TVs that will never be turned on and long corridors – this is what the inside of the Bibby Stockholm looks like.
Moored off Portland Port in Dorset, the barge will be reused to house 500 people seeking asylum in England.
Surrounded by 20ft-high fences, crawling with CCTV and 24/7 security, it has been described as a ‘floating prison’ by campaigners who say it will be overcrowded.
The round-the-clock security presence on the site provided by Isca, consisting of 18 guards trained to military standard taking shifts in groups of six, accompanies CCTV surveillance and back-up from police if needed.
In total, there will be about 60 staff including cooks and cleaners will be on board the barge.
Bibby Stockholm contains a basic gym, games room and 222 en-suite bedrooms.
Towels and a bar of soap were placed on each mattress ahead of the arrivals.
The bedrooms all have televisions which the operator was told to disconnect but were too costly to remove.
Instead, residents will be encouraged to socialise or watch programmes and films in one of four communal TV rooms, and can also learn English in a classroom and worship in a dedicated space.
A small number of laptops are also available and there is Wi-Fi throughout the barge.
But given how long asylum claims take to process, the conditions may look a lot different when the barge is at capacity.
Deputy director for asylum accommodation Leanne Palk said: ‘It is not a floating prison.
‘People are free to come and go as they want, but we do have this secure fence line in place just so that people do not wander around the port.
‘It is a working port and we need to keep the safety of the asylum seekers on board the vessel at the heart of everything we do.’
Ms Palk said it was unlikely asylum seekers would leave the barge and never come back, adding: ‘They have a vested interest in having their asylum claim processed.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Inside the Bibby Stockholm barge as it readies to house 500 asylum seekers
MORE : Labour says they would keep asylum seeker barges if they gained power
MORE : I was locked up and tortured in Ethiopia – the UK asylum system feels like another prison