As legal challenge against the 'cruel' plan hits High Court this week
Asylum seekers will be sent back to the Bibby Stockholm barge next week, the Home Office has announced, only two months after they were removed due to detected deadly Legionella.
The government has now sent letters to the 39 people who were initially moved onto the vessel in early August for less than a week, to tell them they will be moved back onto the Bibby Stockholm on 19 October.
Deemed cruel and a ‘death trap’, the asylum seekers were told in the letter that “this accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis” and that they will be required to sign in and out when they leave or return to the accomodation.
It comes as a legal battle against the barge takes place this week, headed by the Mayor of Portland, Carralyn Parkes, who launched the challenge in a personal capacity on the grounds that the barge did not have planning permission.
Speaking outside the High Court today, Parkes said: “The Bibby Stockholm was going to accommodate some of the most vulnerable people in Portland port. The idea of holding human beings on a barge in such a location was so monstrous that I felt I had to do everything I could to prevent that from happening.
“I did everything that I could in terms of speaking out in terms of humanity, unfortunately this wasn’t enough. Hopefully we can get justice today, for the people on the barge.”
The contract has been estimated to cost £1,593,535,200, however details of the pricing have been labelled ‘redacted’ on the government website.
The Home Office has apparently refused to reveal the details around the cost of the barge under the guise that it would “not be in the public interest” to publish the information now, the iNews reported. Whilst the iNews also reported that the barge cost the Home Office £300,000 a week while it was empty.
Around 500 male asylum-seekers are expected to eventually be accommodated on the barge in Dorset, which the Fire Brigades Union referred to as a “death trap”, whilst the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said “no one should be isolated like this”, and once again urged the government to abandon the “cruel plan”.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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