Plans to house asylum seekers in a barge moored off Wirral have been scrapped, according to reports.
Sky News reports that plans to use a vessel to house asylum seekers in the vicinity of the Wirral Waters regeneration project in Birkenhead will not proceed after the plan was rejected by Peel Ports, who operate the waters. The barge was planned to hold 500 asylum seekers and was one of seven that the government wanted to use.
The news comes after politicians and protesters condemned the plans. In April, Mick Whitley, Angela Eagle, and Margaret Greenwood, the MPs for Birkenhead, Wallasey and Wirral West, issued a joint statement, which said: “We owe a duty of care towards those who come to the UK fleeing conflict and persecution.