Crackdown on the barge refuseniks
Migrants who turn down rooms on Home Office vessel face losing taxpayer support
MIGRANTS who yesterday refused to be transferred to the Home Office’s new barge could be barred from receiving taxpayer-funded support.
A migrant charity boasted it had prevented the transfer of about 20 asylum seekers to the ‘Bibby Stockholm’ barge when the vessel finally opened to residents.
But sources said officials were poised to remove accommodation funded by the public purse if migrants continued to decline a bed on the barge, which is moored on the Dorset coast.
Care4Calais said a number of transfers were ‘cancelled’ by lawyers on behalf of migrants who were disabled, or have survived torture, modern slavery or ‘traumatic experiences at sea’.
One of the migrants who objected to moving to the barge claimed in legal papers that he suffered from a phobia about water, it is understood.
The legal firm behind the last-minute legal challenges is understood to be London-based Duncan Lewis, which played a key role in challenging the Government’s Rwanda asylum scheme.
However, it is understood that the ‘ pre-action letters’ issued by the law firm could lead to the withdrawal of migrants’ free, full-board accommodation. In that event, they would be declared homeless and responsibility for their housing would pass to their local authority.
An initial group of 15 migrants was taken to Portland in Dorset by coach yesterday, with more to follow in the coming days.
The barge has been leased by the Government in a bid to reduce the £6million a day cost of keeping asylum seekers in hotels.
There were 50,548 migrants in hotels at the end of June – up from 40,000 in December when Rishi Sunak unveiled his plan to ‘stop the boats’.
As its legal challenges sought to block the relocation of migrants to the barge, Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith said: ‘None of the asylum seekers we are supporting have gone to the Bibby Stockholm today as legal representatives have had their transfers cancelled.
‘Among our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture
and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea.
‘To house any human being in a “quasi floating prison” like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane. To try and do so with this group of people is unbelievably cruel. Human beings should be housed in communities, not barges. We will continue supporting people to challenge their decision.’
The Stand Up to Racism campaign group said the asylum seekers who avoided transfer to the barge included nine housed in Bournemouth.
A government source said: ‘This just shows what we are up against: Leftwing charities and lawyers are repeatedly
trying to stop us from moving illegal migrants out of expensive hotels.
‘Other European countries use barges safely and at lower costs than hotels. Labour need to quit trying to sabotage our plans to stop the boats. It’s time they backed the barge.’
Migrants staying on the Bibby Stockholm will be given a taste of traditional British life including tending to allotments, guided hikes in the Dorset countryside, cycling and cricket.
The asylum seekers will also get free buses and taxis to enjoy the local towns as well as ‘cultural events’.
The three- storey vessel offers free canteen food around the clock, TV
rooms, a gym and 222 en- suite bedrooms. The Home Office ultimately aims to house 506 adult male migrants aboard. First arrivals had been due last Tuesday but there were delays.
Inspectors from Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service initially refused to issue a fire safety certificate for the barge, it is understood.
A lack of high-vis jackets for staff was another issue raised by the Health and Safety Executive, along with fencing to segregate migrants and staff from vehicles on the quayside.
Ben Selby of the Fire Brigades Union last week described the barge as a ‘potential deathtrap’.