Inside first migrant barge housing migrants critics call ‘cruel’ – but it’s complete with a games room and a gym
BRITAIN’S first migrant barge boasts a gym, TV and games rooms, a pool table and even a bar — but critics still insist the floating hotel is “cruel”.
The three-storey Bibby Stockholm will house 500 in ensuite rooms at Portland Port, Dorset.
The barge also has TV and games rooms and wifi throughout.
The Home Office will lease it for 18 months to accommodate single adults arriving on small boats.
It will be berthed at Portland Port in a deal to slash the £6million a day the Government spends housing migrants in hotels.
Cruise ships and old RAF bases are also being considered.
Amnesty International said: “All talk of barges, cruise ships and former military barracks should be abandoned.
“Anyone seeking asylum in this country should be housed in decent accommodation with proper facilities and, crucially, their claims should be properly and consistently processed.
“Instead of more ministerial cruelty, we need sweeping asylum reforms.”
But Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson said: “If the economic migrants do not like our on-board hospitality then they are quite welcome to stay in France.
“This Easter I am taking a break on a barge on the Llangollen canal with my kids.
“This has set me back 1,200 quid for three nights. The migrants should think themselves lucky.”
Peterborough MP Paul Bristow said the barge offered “conditions many people in places like Peterborough could only dream of and anyone calling them inhumane doesn’t live in the real world”.
Albania deal ‘curbs flood’
THE number of Albanians arriving on small boats fell at the end of last year — as a deal was struck to speed up their deportation.
Home Office data shows 12,000 made the trip last year — but just 1,200 did so in the last quarter.
The dip comes with several UK flights a week now leaving for Tirana since PM Rishi Sunak signed an agreement in December to try to halt people-smuggling gangs.
A Government source said: “If ever there was a deterrent, this is it. Our plans are working.”