The U.K. government is up to its evil antics once again as they want to put refugees on cramped barges that, according to Home Officer Minister Sarah Dines, would send “a forceful message that there will be proper accommodation but not luxurious” to asylum seekers.
The plan follows the Tories’ failed attempt at trying to send those who arrive in our country “illegally” to Rwanda, as well as considering a literal volcanic island for those people to call home. This is despite the horror stories of prison barges that were used many years ago, the last of which only closed just over 30 years ago in 1992. The government will continue their reign of terror because, for some reason, they enjoy people’s suffering.
On Tuesday, the BBC reported that the Home Office said that 15 people boarded the vessel but one of their reporters only saw “one or two” people get on. They reported that about 20 people refused to board the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorse. The people who did not enter the barge are pursuing legal action.
Steve Smith, chief executive at Care4Calais, told Sky News, “None of the asylum seekers we are supporting have gone to the Bibby Stockholm today as legal representatives have had their transfers cancelled,” and that among refugees who were supposed to board were those who are “disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea.”
The reason that the Home Office is trying to make the move, which many human rights groups have spoken out against, is to lessen the supposed £6 million a day cost of putting asylum seekers up in hotels. The Bibby Stockholm holds up to 500 people with 227 rooms. It is expected to house men from various countries between the ages of 18 to 55, who will spend nine months on the barge.
A government letter, which was published by Sky News, illustrates the atrocious, fear-mongering way the Home Office are behaving towards these individuals. It reads, “Arrangements were made for you to travel from your accommodation… to alternative accommodation at the Bibby Stockholm in Portland on 7 August 2023. On 7 August you did not take up the offer of this accommodation. Please consider this letter a second notification to change your accommodation with arrangements in place to move you to the Bibby Stockholm, Portland on 8 August 2023.”
It continues, “Accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis. Where asylum seekers fail to take up an offer of suitable accommodation without a reasonable explanation, there should be no expectation that alternative accommodation will be offered. If you do not travel tomorrow, on 8 August 2023, arrangements for ceasing the support that you are receiving from the Home Office may commence.”
(featured image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
