Labour would continue ‘short-term’ use of barges to house migrants, shadow minister admits

Labour’s shadow immigration minister has said his party would continue to use barges to house asylum seekers for a “very short” time while the asylum backlog is tackled.

Stephen Kinnock insisted the use of the barges would be temporary, and said that former military bases used to house migrants would also continue to operate for up to six months under a Labour government.

“The reality is that we’ve got tens of thousands of people in hotels, we need to get them out of hotels and we need to get them off the barges and out of the military camps too,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“Because of the complete and utter chaos and shambles of the Tory asylum crisis, we are going to have to continue in a very short-term period to use the infrastructure that is there, including the barges and the hotels.”

The Aberavon MP added: “We will be forced to use these contingency measures because of the mess the Government has made.”

Mr Kinnock declined to give a specific timeline on when Labour would be able to reduce the asylum backlog, which recently reached a record high of more than 172,000 cases.

“I’m confident that within six months of a Labour government we will be getting on top of the backlog and clearing people out of hotels and putting them into suitable accommodation, or removing them from the country properly because they have no right to be here,” he continued.

Last month, Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper suggested barges and disused military bases could continue to be used to house asylum seekers under a Labour government, but did not give further details.

“We will take action to clear the backlog. We’ll have to address what we inherit at that time because at the moment it is so chaotic what the government is doing,” she said following a speech in Westminster.

It comes as the first set of arrivals are due to be housed on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge, moored off the coast of Dorset, in the coming weeks.

The Government has been forced to defend its controversial use of the barge amid concerns over the safety of the vessel.

Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, said he was “more than aware of” whistleblower allegations reported this weekend that the Bibby Stockholm barge is “a fire risk”.

The Times reported serious fire safety concerns were raised about the three-storey vessel by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last week, with one source fearing the barge could become a “floating Grenfell” – in reference to the 2017 tower block fire.

The Bibby Stockholm vessel was previously used in the Netherlands to house about 500 asylum seekers in the early 2000s.