UK to stop using Bibby Stockholm barge to house asylum seekers
Al Jazeera
The vessel was introduced by the previous gov’t to house people seeking asylum while their claims are being processed.
The United Kingdom’s new Labour government has announced that it will stop housing people seeking asylum in the country on a controversial accommodation barge from next year as it tries to clear a backlog of asylum requests.
The use of the Bibby Stockholm vessel, which can house up to 500 people, began under the Conservative government last year, with the aim of cutting the cost of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers while their claims are processed.
On Tuesday, the UK’s Home Office, or interior ministry, said use of the barge would end once its contract expires in January.
The Home Office added that extending the use of the Bibby Stockholm would have cost more than 20 million pounds ($26m) next year.
The vessel, anchored off Dorset, became a high-profile symbol of the UK’s tough asylum policy under the Conservatives, with human rights campaigners comparing it to a prison ship and criticising its use as inhumane.
