The British government says it has leased a refurbished barge to house 500 migrants on its southern coast, as it faces criticism over its plans to bar asylum seekers arriving in small boats from across the English Channel.
The government says the decision to use the vessel is a part of efforts to reduce the use of costly hotels as temporary accommodation while asylum claims are being processed.
The 93-metre long barge, the Bibby Stockholm, will be berthed in Portland Port in Dorset and will accommodate 500 men, Britain’s Interior Ministry said.
Migrants will be moved aboard “in the coming months” and it will be operational for at least 18 months, the ministry said, adding that it was in discussions with other ports about the use of further vessels.
“We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing — including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the U.K. becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe,” Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday his government had leased a barge to house 500 migrants on England’s southern coast as part of efforts to reduce the use of costly hotels as temporary accommodation while asylum claims are being processed.
“All accommodation will meet our legal obligations and we will work closely with the local community to address their concerns, including through financial support.”
The barge will provide “basic and functional” accommodation with health-care provision and catering facilities as well as onboard security, the government said.
45,000 arrivals last year
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on illegal migration one of his top priorities ahead of an election expected next year.
Government data shows 201 migrants were detected crossing the Channel on Tuesday. The total number who arrived in 2022 was more than 45,000.
The government, which last week also said it would set up basic migrant accommodation at military bases, says hotel accommodation for asylum seekers costs the equivalent of $10 million a day. It did not provide a cost for the barge.
The moves have been criticized by human rights groups for not providing adequate housing, while some lawmakers from Sunak’s own governing Conservative Party are concerned about the impact on local communities.
“There will be no control over where they go, what they do, in a very sensitive seaside town,” Richard Drax, a Dorset lawmaker, told GB News. “We haven’t even been consulted by anyone… on the consequences of this influx.”
Restaurant, gym equipment
The Bibby Stockholm was originally built in the Netherlands in 1976 and converted into a floating hotel in 1992.
According to its owner, Liverpool-based Bibby Marine Ltd., it can accommodate up to 506 people in 222 rooms, though it is marketed as being designed with “single en-suite bedrooms.”
Promotional material on Bibby Marine Ltd.’s website describes the barge as having showers in each room, plus a restaurant, galley, laundry facilities and a recreation room with gym equipment.
The company, which owns five similar vessels, says its purpose is to provide housing for workers when accommodation is either unavailable or too costly.
Other countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, have leased the Bibby Stockholm (formerly known as the Floatel Stockholm) and other accommodation barges to house asylum seekers or homeless people in the past.
A report from Amnesty International Netherlands criticized the use of barges and other marine vessels to house detained asylum seekers, beginning in 2005.
Advocates for and human rights groups have already slammed the British government over its promise to deport some asylum seekers to a third country, such as Rwanda, as a means of deterring migrant boat crossings on the English Channel.
Last year, Britain struck a deal with Rwanda to accept hundreds of asylum seekers but the plan has been delayed by legal challenges.
At least 27 migrants crossing from French to Britain died when their boat sank, in what France’s interior minister called the biggest tragedy involving migrants in the English Channel.
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