United Kingdom | The British Government postpones the transfer of migrants to the “floating prison” due to security concerns

2023-08-01 13:19:26

The British Government has suffered a new reverse in his polemic immigration policy. The Ministry of the Interior has been forced to postpone the transfer of the first asylum seekers to the barge ‘Bibby Stockholm’described by human rights organizations as a “floating jail“, because it does not comply with the security guarantees enough in the protection system against fires. The transfer was initially scheduled for this week, but the new setback has prevented the Government from specifying when it will finally take place.

“The correct thing is that any accommodation that we offer is also safe,” explained the Minister of Transport, Richard Holden, to Sky News. “The checks will last as long as they have to last, It’s important that we do things right“. The Government’s decision has come after the warnings from local inspectors, collected by the newspaper ‘The Times’, about what they consider could be a “new Grenfell”, in reference to the fire in a London residential building in which died 72 personas in 2017. The barge has a capacity for 506 people, distributed in 222 cabins, and only has with two main exits.

Military bases

Los government plans to reduce the costs associated with the accommodation of asylum seekers if they are late much more than anticipated. The objective of the Executive was to install between August and September other 2,000 refugees at the Scampton military base, in the north of England, but in the end the transfer will not take place at least until October because the pertinent inspections have not yet been carried out and for delays in the installation of water, electricity and gas. The authorities have transferred 46 asylum seekers to the military base Wethersfieldabout 60 kilometers from London, and they plan to install fifty more in the coming days, despite the fact that cases of scabies and tuberculosisaccording to the British press.

The Town Halls of the two municipalities where the bases are located have filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Development and Housing to try to brake the arrival of more than 5,000 asylum seekers expected in the coming months. The plaintiffs accuse the Minister of the Interior, Suella Bravermanto use an emergency procedure to avoid proper planning processessome arguments that have been supported by the residents of the two towns, contrary to the arrival of migrants.

Government Determination

Despite the setbacks, the government of Rishi Sunak plans to fight until he achieves his goals, aware that the fight against irregular immigration is one of the keys to attract the most radical voters of the Conservative Party, disenchanted with the broken promises of Brexit. The prime minister has insisted on the legality of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, a decision stopped by the courts and on which the supreme court in the coming months.

The Executive ensures that the plans to install the refugees in military bases and on barges such as the ‘Bibby Stockholm‘ will mean significant savings for the state coffers, which allocate about 7 million pounds daily (more than 8 million euros) in housing asylum seekers in hotels. The measure, however, has the direct rejection of more than 50 organizations defense of human rights, who have described it as “cruel and inhumane“and that they have warned of the risks they may have for the mental health of people who have already gone through traumatic experiences.