First migrants will board Bibby Stockholm today: Arrivals will be kept busy with activities like cricket and countryside hikes – as minister says barge won’t be luxurious because ‘nice hotels were part of the pull’ for asylum seekers
The first asylum seekers are due to arrive at the Bibby Stockholm barge today where they will start to enjoy the good life – on sea.
Some 500 adult male migrants will be calling this hulking great ‘floatel’ their temporary home in Portland harbour on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.
The first 20 guests will check in today and receive goody bags containing toiletries, a map, notebooks and pens and details of a phone-a-friend hotline if they want to chat.
The three-storey Bibby Stockholm is the Home Office’s solution to its rocketing £6million-a-day hotels bill for new arrivals. The enormous barge, the length of a football pitch, serves free canteen food around the clock to guests who can enjoy TV rooms, a gym and 222 en-suite bedrooms.
Migrants staying on the Home Office’s new floating hotel will be given a taste of 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 town and organised ‘cultural events’. Free buses every hour from 7am to 11pm will ferry men to the nearby seaside resort of Weymouth, with its beach, fishing boat fleet and marina.
And if they miss the 11pm bus back to the barge, free taxis are available by phoning a special number. On top of free food, accommodation and transport, each migrant is given £9.58 a week pocket money.
The first migrants will today arrive at the Bibby Stockholm immigration barge moored at Portland Port – pictured today. It will house around 500 men – around 20 will move in on Monday
A view of inside the gym onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge
A range of meals will be served from the barge’s newly-refurbished canteen. Food is available 24 hours a day, and the cross-Channel ferry-style canteen serves breakfast and a three-course lunch and dinner
Those on board the controversial barge can sit back and watch television on comfy seats
The migrants will be given an ‘induction’ to help them understand ‘what is expected in the community’. It is understood instructions on being ‘a good neighbour’ will include advice not to crowd together in large groups, not to carry weapons and to not play in children’s playgrounds, and definitely not all at once.
And to keep them out of trouble, a host of ‘cultural’ activities are on offer from the local council, including ‘guided hikes, cycling, cricket and the chance to use allotments’ along with ‘community events’.
Food is available 24 hours a day, and the cross-Channel ferry-style canteen serves breakfast and a three-course lunch and dinner.
Breakfast choices include eggs, pancakes, bread and yoghurts, lunch options include potato soup, garlic chicken, Irish stew, and roast turkey with rice, and some of the dinners are paella, fried fish and oriental chicken. There are bottles of Ribena and Heinz tomato ketchup.
In the middle of the barge are two rather bleak outdoor recreational areas, each about 80ft by 30ft, where there are some vague plans to host ‘basketball, netball and volleyball’ matches.
There is a classroom for English language lessons, a computer room with free WiFi and a medical room with a nurse, and a GP on call.
Some 500 adult male migrants will be calling this hulking great ‘floatel’ – pictured this morning – their temporary home in Portland harbour on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast
A view of inside one of the bedrooms onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge
The bedrooms on board contain a wardrobe as well as a small desk, chair and television
The barge also offers a multifaith room for hundreds of asylum seekers to use on board
A view of the doctor’s room onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge
But despite the facilities, it is clear that 500 grown men are not going to stay cooped up on this barge, for months on end, waiting for their asylum applications to be resolved.
And they are free to explore the historic area. That has caused a great of anxiety among some of the 13,000 people who live on the isle of Portland.
The Bibby Stockholm is moored at the spot where a prison ship was once docked. But Leanne Palk, the Home Office official in charge of operations at the barge, said last month: ‘The vessel is in good clean condition, although basic. I wouldn’t have said it was a luxurious facility, but it meets what we require in terms of adequacy. It is not a floating prison. It is open, it is light, it is airy.’
It came as it was revealed that ministers are drawing up proposals to send Channel migrants to Ascension Island if the Rwanda scheme falters.
A security checkpoint on board the Bibby Stockholm barge, as shown in a BBC report today
One of the corridors on board the Bibby Stockholm barge is shown in a BBC News report
There is a classroom for English language lessons on board the Bibby Stockholm barge
As part of a radical ‘Plan B’, believed to be in its very early stages, illegal migrants would be transferred 4,000 miles to the British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic.
As a further fallback, up to five other countries – all believed to be in Africa – are in negotiations with the Home Office to take those who arrive in small boats or in the back of lorries under schemes similar to the deal with Kigali.
The number of small boat migrants to have arrived in Britain so far this year has topped 15,000, with more expected in the coming days as the weather improves.
Home Office ministers have yet to rule which back-up plan is the most likely option for development in the event of the Rwanda scheme being ultimately blocked, the Daily Mail understands.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman told The Mail on Sunday yesterday that ‘all options were on the table’ if the Rwanda project is unable to proceed
The £140million agreement with Kigali was declared unlawful on human rights grounds by the Court of Appeal in June. Under the deal, Channel migrants and other irregular arrivals will be sent to the Rwandan capital to claim asylum there rather than here.
Although ministers are ‘confident’ the Supreme Court will side with them and overturn the ruling in October, the Home Office is devising a range of options in case the deal has to be ditched.
A senior government source said: ‘We’re duty bound to cover all possibilities and so, as you’d expect, this Conservative Government is working on plans to stop the boats which would run in conjunction with Rwanda.
‘Alternatively other plans could be used if we’re frustrated legally on our relocation scheme, even though we are confident it is lawful and await the Supreme Court judgment.
‘This is the right and sensible thing to do – and it’s what our voters would expect of us.’
The development came after Home Secretary Suella Braverman told The Mail on Sunday yesterday that ‘all options were on the table’ if the Rwanda project is unable to proceed.
Because Ascension Island is British soil, it is hoped it would remove some of the legal difficulties involved in deporting migrants to a foreign state.
But proposals for a processing centre on Ascension pose huge logistical difficulties.
Because Ascension Island is British soil, it is hoped it would remove some of the legal difficulties involved in deporting migrants to a foreign state
Illegal migrants would be transferred 4,000 miles to the British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic
Migrants would be sent to Ascension only for processing rather than on a one-way ticket, it is understood
The 34 square mile territory – which lies about 1,000 miles off the coast of sub-Saharan Africa – has no hospital and moving large numbers of migrants and staff there could overload existing power and water facilities. Migrants would be sent to Ascension only for processing rather than on a one-way ticket, it is understood.
Those who are granted asylum or humanitarian protection by the Home Office would be brought back to the UK. It is unclear what would happen to migrants whose claims are rejected.
The Home Office often faces insurmountable barriers when trying to remove failed asylum seekers, many of whom cannot be returned to their homeland. Other British Overseas Territories – including the Falkland Islands – were considered as possible locations for migrant processing before the Rwanda scheme was negotiated.
But in late 2021, the Falklands were ruled out on the grounds it would have been politically disastrous if they were portrayed as a ‘dumping ground’ after the 1982 war which cost more than 200 British lives. It is unclear if the Falklands or other territories are again being considered as alternatives to Rwanda.
Last month, the Home Office’s top civil servant Sir Matthew Rycroft revealed to MPs the department was working on other plans ‘in parallel’ with the Rwanda agreement.
The church of St Marys in Georgetown overlooks the airfield on Ascension Island
Ascension Island is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (pictured: The Post Office in Georgetown, Ascension Island)
The 34 square mile territory – which lies about 1,000 miles off the coast of sub-Saharan Africa – has no hospital and moving large numbers of migrants and staff there could overload existing power and water facilities
The number of small boat migrants to have arrived in Britain so far this year topped 15,000, with more expected in the coming days as the weather improves
It was reported last year that before the Rwanda scheme was adopted, Britain was in advanced talks with Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and Namibia over similar deals to receive asylum seekers from the UK.
It is not known if they now form part of the Rwanda ‘Plan B’ discussions.
READ MORE: Ascension Island – where the government is considering sending Channel migrants if the Rwanda scheme fails – is an unlovely lump of rock 1,000 miles from anywhere, writes NEIL DERBYSHIRE who has visited the tiny British possession
Niger was also approached previously but now seems an unlikely destination for migrants from Britain since last month’s military coup.
Separately, Home Office data showed Turkish arrivals were the second-largest nationality among Channel migrants last month. Out of 3,299 who arrived in July, there were 370 Turks, after 683 Afghans.
The trend has been caused by February’s devastating earthquake, which left more than 50,000 dead in the country.
The new figures also showed the ‘legacy backlog’ of asylum claims lodged before July last year – which Rishi Sunak has pledged to clear by the end of the year – has dropped to 62,157. It fell by about 8,000 cases in July.
A separate backlog of asylum claims lodged since last July increased by 6,415 to 74,622.
It means the total number of asylum claims awaiting a decision stands at 136,779 – a fall of 1,921 cases in a month.
At the end of June there were 117,450 asylum seekers receiving taxpayer-funded support, including 50,548 in hotels. This was up 5,156 from the end of March.
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