Home Office Will Close Bibby Stockholm Barge Accommodation for Migrants

The Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge arrives into Falmouth docks, Cornwall, to undergo inspection on May 9, 2023. Matt Keeble/PA Media

The contract to use the Bibby Stockholm barge, which houses asylum seekers off the coast of Dorset, will be discontinued after January, the government has announced.

The decision is part of Labour’s commitment to clear the backlog of asylum cases and protect the UK borders.

The barge at Portland Port is one of three accommodation vessels for asylum seekers, procured by the government. It can accommodate around 500 men, aged from 18 to 65.

Ending the use of the vessel will save more than £20 million next year, the government said on Tuesday.

The Home Office plans to free £7.7 billion in asylum cost savings over the next ten years. This will be achieved by clearing the backlog of asylum cases and removing illegal migrants as part of the restart planned by Labour.

The minister for border security and asylum, Dame Angela Eagle said that Labour is determined to have a “swiftly” operating asylum system.

“The home secretary has set out plans to start clearing the asylum backlog and making savings on accommodation which is running up vast bills for the taxpayer. The Bibby Stockholm will continue to be in use until the contract expires in January 2025,” Dame Angela said.

‘Asylum System in Chaos’

The announcement is among the first to cover Labour’s policies on immigration since the election.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Ms. Cooper said that UK’s “asylum system is in chaos” and that the “asylum backlog is getting worse.”

She told MPs that apart from scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda deportation scheme, Labour will ramp up border security.

More than 100 Home Office staff will be redeployed from working on the Rwanda scheme to focusing on a “rapid returns unit,” tasked with sending illegal migrants back to their home countries.

Return of migrants to safe countries, fast-track decisions on asylum cases and ending hotel use for migrant accommodation are part of the newly proposed Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

The legislation promises to “modernise the asylum and immigration system.”

It will establish the new Border Security Command, to enable the use counter-terrorism powers against illegal small boat crossings.

The Home Office said on Tuesday that recruitment has already begun for a new border security commander. The government also plans to increase by 50 percent the number of specialist officers from Britain’s National Crime Agency stationed within Europol.

“In the meantime, I am laying a statutory instrument that ends the retrospective nature of the Illegal Migration Act provisions, so that the Home Office can immediately start clearing cases from after March 2023,” Ms. Cooper told the House.

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly accused Ms. Cooper of using “made up numbers” and Labour of scrapping the Rwanda scheme on “ideological grounds.”

He also questioned where asylum seekers from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria would be sent.

“If not Rwanda, will it be Rochdale, Romford or Richmond?” asked Mr. Cleverly.

The home secretary said that by scrapping the scheme, the government would save £220 million on direct payments to Rwanda over the next few years and will immediately save up to £750 million.

By clearing the asylum backlog, the government seeks to reduce demand for accommodation, like the Bibby Stockholm.

In addition to accommodation vessels, like Portland Port barge, four land-based cites have been previously identified to host migrants.

Among them are Ministry of Defence facility in Wethersfield and a major garrison south of Richmond. Collectively, all sites could accommodate at least 6,400 bedspaces.

The Conservative government started moving asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm in October 2023 and paid Dorset Council £3,500 per occupied bedspace.

At the time, the Home Office said that the barge had passed all necessary tests including health, fire and water checks.

However, the following summer the barge was evacuated and remained vacant for two months, after the discovery of dangerous bacteria on the vessel.