The Bibby Stockholm barge, which houses illegal immigrants and is currently docked in Dorset, will be closed as part of the closure of the migration programme, the press service of the UK Home Office reported on July 23.
The contract to house illegal immigrants will not be renewed and the facility will close in early 2025. The closure of the barge is part of a plan to reduce costs in the asylum system for illegal immigrants.
Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, said the Home Office had begun implementing cost-saving plans.
In 2023, the Home Office reported that the barge was costing taxpayers £41,000 a day, equivalent to £205 per person. That is more than the estimated £140 per night in a hotel. The three-deck barge, which can accommodate 500 people, has been used since August 2023 to house male asylum seekers aged between 18 and 65.
Lloyd Hutton, MP for South Dorset, named the barge “impracticable, expensive and ineffective” extent.
Let us recall that the UK Labour government announced the cancellation of Conservative plans to organise a network of facilities to house illegal immigrants awaiting decisions on asylum applications. The plan to place illegal immigrants on a barge was declared unsustainable.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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