First asylum seekers arrive on Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset – as it happened

5.50pm BST

Afternoon summary

• The first group of asylum seekers due to be housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, have been taken onboard. Given that polling suggests voters are more likely than not to see this as an acceptable option for single, male migrants, ministers may view the arrivals as a success. But the news coincided with No 10 having to in effect disown reports saying the government was seriously considering sending asylum seekers to Ascension Island, only hours after a Home Office minister claimed this option was on the table. (See 12.31pm.) Labour said the government media strategy for the week was “descending into chaos”. (See 2.48pm.)

• Labour has revealed that the number of asylum seekers in hotel accommodation has risen by 25% since Rishi Sunak said, in December, that he wanted to stop the practice. (See 2.48pm.)

• GB News is being investigated for four further potential breaches of impartiality rules, as the media regulator Ofcom struggles with the rightwing channel’s willingness to push the boundaries of British broadcasting rules.

• The growing crisis facing the NHS presents “quite a few business opportunities” for AXA to expand its private healthcare business, the French insurance group’s chief executive has said.

Two men boarding the Bibby Stockholm immigration barge in Portland today. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

5.25pm BST

Increasing fines for illegally employing migrants 'likely to be counter-productive', says migration expert

Earlier Colin Yeo, an immigration barrister, posted tweets critical of the government’s plan to increase the fines for employers and landlords who employ or house migrants who do not have a lawful immigration status. (See 11.18am.) He has firmed up his view in a post on his Substack account in which he says the proposals are likely to be counter-productive and could have “disastrous consequences”.

You can read the post (for free, or by taking out a subscription) here. And here is an extract.

There is no evidence that the existing system is working or that increasing the level of fines will improve the effectiveness of the system. In fact, there is reason to think that increasing the level of fines might make the system less effective in that good faith employers will not know any better what they are supposed to do and may well end up being closed down by this change. It is unlikely to have any impact on serial offender employers.

If the increase in the level of fines is about raising more revenue, there is reason to think that it will fail at that as well, because the new fines would simply lead a lot of employers to close or go bankrupt. Trying to pay a fine of £15,000 per worker was hard enough for a small employer. Paying £45,000 per worker is simply going to be impossible.

This sort of measure has become the hallmark of this fag-end government. It sounds tough. In reality it is likely to be counter-productive. It may well have unintended and disastrous consequences for individuals and employers acting in good faith but caught out by incredibly complex and ever-changing immigration law requirements.

Updated at 6.10pm BST