Eighteen months after it arrived at Portland Port in Dorset, the empty asylum seeker barge Bibby Stockholm has been towed away from its mooring.
The barge, which only ever provided accommodation for about 400 single male asylum seekers a night at maximum occupancy, has cost the taxpayer at least £34.8m, according to the National Audit Office.
The last men disembarked in November, leaving the Home Office facility empty.
The engineless vessel will now be returned to its owner, Bibby Marine, who provides floating accommodation for workforces.
“Basic and functional” accommodation on the barge had been billed by the previous Conservative government as a way of reducing the costs of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels as they waited for decisions on their applications. Ministers argued that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers was an “incentive” for small boat crossings.
In July 2023, shortly before the first asylum seekers were due to come onboard, the Guardian highlighted safety concerns about the barge, including disquiet about narrow corridors, fire safety, crowding two people into bedrooms previously used by one occupant and a lack of lifejackets.
Five days after the first 39 men moved in, they had to be removed from the vessel after legionella bacteria, a potentially deadly bacteria, was discovered in the water system in August 2023.
In December 2023, Leonard Farruku, a musician who was seeking asylum after travelling from Albania, is thought to have killed himself on the barge.
More than 60 charities and three Labour MPs then demanded the immediate closure of the barge, in a letter published in the Guardian.
The signatories write: “For those on board, the Bibby Stockholm feels like a prison. It is cramped, restrictive and segregated. The barge is no place to accommodate people who have fled violence, persecution, and torture, many of whom are traumatised and isolated. They are unable to get the help and specialist support they need. Their mental health has deteriorated and some have felt suicidal.”
Within days of getting into power in July last year, the government decided to discontinue the previous government’s contract to house asylum seekers on the vessel.
Extending its use would have cost more than £20m next year, according to the Home Office.
In November, when the barge was decommissioned, the total number of people in the UK still waiting for their asylum claims to be processed was estimated to be about 86,000.
Article by:Source: Donna Ferguson
