‘Floating prisons’: Rishi Sunak’s plan for migrant barges met with fury …
Local politicians have hit out at a “disgraceful” lack of contact from the Government over plans to berth what they described as a “floating prison” barge housing asylum seekers near Middlesbrough.
Furious MPs and councillors condemned Home Office proposals to berth one vessel at Teesport, as first reported in The Guardian[1].
i understands that Birkenhead, in the Wirral is another location being considered after Rishi Sunak revealed the Government has acquired two new ships for 1,000 migrants in an attempt to slash hotel costs of £6m a day.[2]
Alec Brown, Labour leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said they had received “absolutely zero contact” from the Government about a migrant vessel docking at Teesport.
Birkenhead is one of the places that the Government are considering as a site to berth a migrant barge (Photo: Paul Ellis/AFP)
Councillor Brown told i: “I would be very much against it with every fibre of my being.
“It’s a floating prison as far as I’m concerned. I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that we’ve had no contact regarding this.”
He also raised concerns about the possible impact on the Government’s flagship freeport policy[3] at Teesside, Europe’s largest brownfield site.
“To have a floating prison is not something that I expected would be in their sights,” he added.
Stockton North Labour MP Alex Cunningham urged Home Secretary Suella Braverman to “stick to her commitment” not to house more asylum seekers in the region.
“The proposal to moor an accommodation barge at Teesport flies in the face of the commitment given from ministers to local authorities in the North East that the North East would not take on additional asylum seekers while other areas are still “under quota”,” he said.
“Services in areas like ours are already very stretched and it would not be appropriate for hundreds more people being moved to a barge on the Tees.”
He also raised concerns about the proximity of any accommodation vessel to a blast zone, which allows for a safe explosion, for chemical works on the north bank of the River Tees.
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Under the Government’s plan, up to 1,800 asylum seekers could also be housed on board at least one, and possibly two, boats or barges on the River Mersey near Birkenhead.
The Home Office is also reportedly discussions over further locations in Felixstowe in Suffolk, Harwich in Essex, Tyneside and near City Airport in London.
i understands that Felixstowe Council and port operators Hutchison Ports had not been contacted by the Government about any plans to berth a vessel at the port.
It’s understood that Peel Ports, which operates six UK ports including the harbour and docks along the Mersey in Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton, had been due to speak with Merseyside MPs on Monday to discuss the plans before the meeting was cancelled, but that no contract has been signed with the Home Office.
The port operator provided a berth for a cruise ship accommodating Ukrainian refugees in Glasgow last year.
A spokesperson for Wirral Council told i: “No decisions have been made and conversations are continuing with the Home Office.”
Last month, the council formally objected to plans to dock any migrant accommodation vessels on the Mersey, citing “significant concerns”.
Mick Whitley, the Labour MP for Birkenhead, told i: “This policy is cruel, inhumane and a stain on the UK’s reputation as a sanctuary for those feeling war, torture and persecution.
“As far as I am concerned refugees are welcome here. But consigning them to the cramped quarters of an old barge or ship in a dock where there are no amenities, resources or shops is akin to a prison sentence.
“These should rightly be branded as prison ships. Asylum seekers should be treated with empathy, dignity, offered safe homes and supported while they are waiting for their applications to be processed.”