A watchdog has demanded a meeting with the immigration minister after potentially deadly bacteria was found on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
In a formal letter to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) on Thursday, Labour called for an urgent inquiry to be triggered into why asylum seekers were put on the vessel on the same day test results found Legionella in its water system.
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock asked whether the process was dangerously “accelerated for reasons of political presentation”, at the start of the government’s “small boats week” of announcements.
The Labour MP said the Home Office had not answered his questions, and instead “engaged in a blame game” over when it was informed that Legionella was present.
“I am therefore asking you to open an independent investigation, as a matter of urgency, so you can cut through all the mixed messages and establish a single version of the truth,” Mr Kinnock wrote.
“I would ask that you specifically look into why the Home Office chose to board the asylum seekers before they had received the test results, given that the Legionella testing process was initiated on 25 July.”
Chief inspector David Neal told The Independent he was “pressing for” a meeting with Robert Jenrick to discuss the issues, adding: “I continue to closely monitor events surrounding the Bibby Stockholm.
“I have read Mr Kinnock’s letter and will consider his points carefully and respond appropriately. In the meantime, I continue to press for a meeting with the immigration minister to discuss.”
The ICIBI has previously released a raft of scathing reports into the government’s handling of English Channel crossings, small boat reception centres and accommodation for asylum seekers.
Inspections revealed that the Home Office was illegally housing child asylum seekers in hotels, wrongly detaining victims of torture and trafficking, missing security and vulnerability checks on small boat migrants and leaving thousands of refugees stranded in “unsafe situations” abroad.
The ‘Bibby Stockholm’ remains empty amid work on its water system at Portland Port in Dorset— (Getty)
The government’s £1.6bn contract with barge operator Corporate Travel Management (CTM) requires a “Legionella Report” to be prepared, alongside other health and safety reports.
A company representative told The Independent a report was provided “in advance of a contract being entered into” as required but would not answer questions on when that was, why the results were, or why more tests were started last month.
Mr Kinnock said an inquiry must establish whether the Home Office knew about the presence of Legionella before asylum seekers were put on the Bibby Stockholm, and when more people were loaded on after an official was allegedly told about the results on 8 August.
“It’s clear that the government’s handling of this scandal has been chaotic and begs the question as to whether the process was accelerated for reasons of political presentation.” his letter added.
“The barge has sat empty and unusable for 23 of the 28 days it has been docked in Dorset … by my calculations the vessel has already cost the taxpayer some £3m. This is a huge amount of money that has so far delivered no outcome.”
The Home Office said it did not recognise the figures, and had scrutinised the accommodation sites’ value for money compared to hotels.
It hopes to house up to 500 men on the Bibby Stockholm, which only has 222 cabins, and has already seen a wave of legal letters challenging transfer notices over mental and physical health issues.
The Home Office dropped attempts to move more than 20 people last week but threatened other asylum seekers with the withdrawal of housing and financial support if they refused to live on the barge.
Most of those selected were not small boat migrants and claimed asylum after flying to the UK legally, The Independent revealed.
Rishi Sunak has committed to putting people back on the barge, and procuring others, as part of his plans for “alternative accommodation” to cut the £6m-a-day cost of asylum hotels.
But asylum seekers have been told they will not be moved back onto the Bibby Stockholm for weeks, amid ongoing work to “flush” and retest its water system.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The health and welfare of asylum seekers remains of the utmost priority.
“The Home Office and our contractors are following all protocol and advice from Dorset Council’s Environmental Health team, UK Health Security Agency and Dorset NHS who we are working closely with.”
