Asylum seekers could return to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset within days, a minister said on Tuesday, after a Legionella scare forced its evacuation last week.
All 39 migrants who had been shifted out of costly hotels and on to the vessel were removed after traces of the potentially fatal bacteria were detected, plunging the Government’s asylum policy deeper into trouble as six more migrants died at sea off France.
But after days of accusations over whether the Home Office neglected to act quickly enough, Health Minister Will Quince indicated that the barge moored off Portland was being made ready to take in the migrants again.
“Of course public health and safety is key, but we hope in the next few days we will be able to start getting people on to the Bibby Stockholm,” he told LBC Radio.
“It is absolutely the right thing to do but public health and safety is always our paramount concern.”
The minister added that the Government remains committed to the plan to use the barge and similar vessels.
“I think with Bibby Stockholm there was certainly a teething issue there. But we are absolutely determined to stick to the plan because we know that deterrence is working,” he told TalkTV .
Mr Quince also fended off reports that the European Union has rebuffed the Government’s bid to restore cooperation on migration after it was broken off with Brexit.
He declined to comment on the “leaks” in the Times and Mail newspapers, but stressed existing cooperation agreements with other countries, while playing down Cabinet divisions over whether Britain should quit the European Convention on Human Rights.
“I understand there are always going to be different points of view. We understand the frustration. But we urge people to stick with us,” he said.
“If you look at the arrangements that we do have with Turkey, with Albania, and indeed with the French, they are starting to bear fruit and then, more widely, if you look at the deterrent factor, again that is making a difference.”
Citing leaked Cabinet Office notes, The Times said a senior aide to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had rejected negotiations on fresh terms for a migrants pact after Mr Sunak tried to make headway at a European summit in Iceland in May.
The Times suggested any EU deal would likely hinge on Britain agreeing to share in Europe’s effort to resettle hundreds of thousands of migrants coming to the bloc, including migrants arriving by boat to Italy or Greece.
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “We remain open to working with the EU to take forward negotiations on a UK-EU returns deal, as part of our international efforts to tackle illegal migration and to crack down on these exploitative gangs.
“We are in regular conversations with our European counterparts on a range of issues relating to migration and asylum.”
