Bibby Stockholm: Tory ministers face calls to resign after Legionella bacteria found on barge housing migrants | Politics News
Critics are urging the federal government to rethink its controversial plan to home asylum seekers on barges after 39 migrants have been moved off the Bibby Stockholm.
By Faye Brown, Political reporter @fayebrownSky
Conservative ministers are dealing with calls to resign after Legionella bacteria was found within the water provide of the Bibby Stockholm.
A senior Tory determine has informed the i newspaper that Home Secretary Suella Braverman “should be sacked” after the 39 migrants on board the vessel have been eliminated over security considerations.
A Home Office insider described the saga – which comes lower than every week after the primary asylum seekers have been transferred onto the barge – as “embarrassing”.
And Scott Benton – a former Conservative MP who now sits as an unbiased – mentioned that the barge had change into a “complete and utter farce”.
Writing on X, previously Twitter, he added: “As if having porous borders isn’t bad enough, we can’t even move 39 illegal immigrants onto a barge properly.”
Campaigners from No To The Barge have additionally mentioned immigration minister Robert Jenrick ought to stand down from his authorities place with “immediate effect” after promising simply days in the past that the barge was secure.
Ms Braverman is now beneath rising stress to scrap plans to home asylum seekers on barges altogether, following a major setback to a coverage that has been beset with controversy and delay from the very begin.
Care4Calais, which mentioned it stopped 20 migrants from being moved onto the floating lodging on Monday, mentioned the invention of bacteria exhibits their “concerns over the health and safety of the barge are justified” as they referred to as on ministers to axe the coverage.
Steve Smith, chief government of the charity, mentioned: “The Bibby Stockholm is a visible illustration of this authorities’s hostile surroundings in opposition to refugees, but it surely has additionally quick change into an emblem for the shambolic incompetence which has damaged Britain’s asylum system.
“The government should now realise warehousing refugees in this manner is completely untenable, and should focus on the real job at hand – processing the asylum claims swiftly, so refugees may become contributing members of our communities as they so strongly wish.”
Legionella bacteria, which is usually found in water, could cause a severe kind of lung an infection referred to as Legionnaires’ illness.
None of these on the barge have proven indicators of getting the illness and are all being supplied with a well being evaluation, the Home Office mentioned.
It was not clear the place the migrants can be moved to on Friday evening.
Putting them in inns would doubtless trigger recent embarrassment for the federal government, which procured the barge alongside different funds websites in an effort to cut back the £6m-a-day value of housing asylum seekers in inns.
The Home Office insisted disembarking these on board was a “precautionary measure” whereas additional assessments are carried out – however questions stay about who knew what and when.
Sky News understands routine testing of the water provide was initially carried out on Tuesday 25 July however the outcomes didn’t come again till Monday 7 August – the identical day asylum seekers started to board the Bibby Stockholm, which is docked in Portland Port.
However the Home Office was not made conscious of the outcomes till two days later on Wednesday 9 August. Six folks boarded the vessel a day later however have been later eliminated on the recommendation of the UK Health Security Agency, with a choice taken on Friday to take away everybody.
Labour’s shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock mentioned it was “extraordinary” that it appeared correct checks had not taken place earlier than migrants have been moved on board.
“It’s absolutely right that the barge has to be evacuated but what a complete and utter shambles. This is a catalogue of catastrophe and government ministers should hang their heads in shame,” he informed Sky News.
He mentioned the federal government wouldn’t want to use “barges, hotels or military bases” in the event that they tackled the backlog within the asylum system which has reached greater than 173,000 – outstripping the 50,000 items he mentioned have been within the UK’s asylum property.
He referred to as the Bibby Stockholm “a floating symbol of Conservative incompetence”.
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On Wednesday, Mr Jenrick informed Sky News the barge was “perfectly decent accommodation” – regardless of earlier warnings from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) that the vessel was a possible “death trap”.
The union reiterated its place within the wake of the newest growth as they accused the federal government of ignoring their considerations.
Assistant normal secretary Ben Selby mentioned: “We wrote to Suella Braverman greater than every week in the past to demand a gathering to focus on these points. We have had no response to that letter, and our fireplace security and operational security considerations stay.
“It stays our skilled view that it is a potential ‘demise entice’ and an accident ready to occur.
“However, Suella Braverman and her ministerial colleagues are hellbent on confining vulnerable people in jail like conditions on what is effectively a prison ship.”
It comes on the finish of the federal government’s “small boats week” which was supposed to spotlight new hardline insurance policies for stopping Channel crossings.
The bulletins have been considerably overshadowed by a row involving Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson saying asylum seekers who don’t love barges ought to “f*** off back to France” and later admitting the federal government had “failed” to deal with unlawful immigration.
Mr Sunak has made “stopping the boats” one in every of his 5 key priorities in authorities.
However, he confronted an extra blow this week after 775 folks have been recorded crossing the English Channel on Thursday – the best each day quantity up to now this yr.
It pushed the cumulative whole of the quantity of people that made small boat journeys from France to the UK to greater than 100,000 since 2018, when data started.