The UK government remains committed to housing hundreds of illegal migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge after its opening was delayed due to fire safety concerns, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2023) The UK government remains committed to housing hundreds of illegal migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge after its opening was delayed due to fire safety concerns, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday.
First asylum-seekers were expected to move on to the barge on Tuesday, but the plans were scrapped as vessel had not received approval from the local fire service amid safety concerns. Meanwhile, human rights activists have dubbed the barge a "floating prison."
"The point here is not is it yesterday, is it next week, this is an example of me doing something different that hasn't been done before to help solve a serious problem ... There is a barge here, people are going to be put on it, which will ease pressure in local communities," Sunak told the LBC broadcaster.
The barge will be "in operation as soon as it's passed all the checks and regulations, as soon as possible," he added.
Housing migrants on barges is part of a government's plan to accommodate asylum-seekers currently living in hotels. The move is expected to trim the accommodation costs and be more acceptable to the local population.
In June, Amnesty International UK Chief Executive Sacha Deshmukh condemned housing migrants on barges, calling it a "terrible idea." He suggested that the UK government had resorted to a plan involving giant barges to distract public attention from the urgent need for a fair and effective assessment of asylum claims, which the government has still not done.
Illegal migration has been a pressing issue for the United Kingdom for years and only intensified after the country left the European Union in 2020. The number of migrants who entered the UK in 2022 was over 44,000.
