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Some of the first group of asylum seekers have boarded the Bibby Stockholm barge with more arrivals expected today, Sky News understands.

Around 50 people were expected to move on to the vessel, docked in Portland Port in Dorset, on Monday after weeks of delays to the controversial plan.

The Bibby Stockholm is one of a number of alternative sites the Home Office is using to end reliance on expensive hotels for asylum seekers, which the government says is costing £6m a day.

But there has been considerable local opposition due to concerns about the asylum seekers’ welfare and the impact on local services.

Protesters gathered at Portland Harbour on Monday with welcome packs containing toiletries and contact details of organisations offering support to migrants.

Care4Calais claimed it had stopped around 20 asylum seekers from various locations from boarding the barge, including people who have disabilities, people who have had traumatic experiences crossing the sea and victims of torture and modern slavery.

The charity said it will continue working with asylum seekers who don’t want to be moved into the accommodation.

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The 222-bedroom barge will ultimately hold 500 single males with numbers expected to increase gradually.

Downing Street suggested Home Office minister Sarah Dines misspoke when she said earlier on Monday that the accommodation could reach full capacity by the end of the week.

Asked about the comment, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We are looking to (reach) that number over time – I don’t think we are aiming to do it by the weekend.”

Earlier, Miss Dines told Sky News the barge “sends a forceful message” that people who cross the Channel will be housed in accommodation that is “proper…but not luxury” – claiming hotels are part of the “pull” factor attracting people to the UK.

But critics say the plan will not act as a deterrent and the government should focus on reducing the backlog of asylum casees.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said: “It seems there’s nothing this government won’t do to make people seeking asylum feel unwelcome and unsafe in this country.

“Reminiscent of the prison hulks from the Victorian era, the Bibby Stockholm is an utterly shameful way to house people who’ve fled terror, conflict and persecution.”

He added that “rather than wrecking the asylum system”, the government “should fairly and efficiently determine people’s claims instead of perpetuating costly backlogs, human misery and organised criminal exploitation”.

Alongside the barge, the government wants to house people in military sites and marquees.

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What’s it like on the Bibby Stockholm barge?

Multiple reports have also suggested the government is re-visiting plans for a processing centre in Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean if the long-touted Rwanda deportation scheme is not successful in the courts.

Watch Housing the Channel Migrants special programme on Sky News at 7pm tonight

Ms Dines would not confirm or deny the plan but said the government was “looking at all options”.

However, Labour has said alternative accommodation should not be necessary, calling on the government to get a grip of the backlog of asylum applications which are over 100,000.

This week is the government’s unofficial “small boats week”, where it wants to talk about its efforts to get a grip on the number of people crossing the English Channel on a small boat.

Total arrivals so far for 2023 stand at 15,071, which is 15% down on last year, the latest figures suggest.

However that is significantly higher than the 10,703 arrivals that had been detected at this point in 2021.

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Demographics will ‘leapfrog’ Bitcoin adoption in Pakistan — Bilal Bin Saqib

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<div>Demographics will 'leapfrog' Bitcoin adoption in Pakistan — Bilal Bin Saqib</div>

<div>Demographics will 'leapfrog' Bitcoin adoption in Pakistan — Bilal Bin Saqib</div>

A young and tech-savvy population, combating inflationary pressures, is driving Bitcoin adoption and a new financial system in Pakistan.

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Tyler Winklevoss claims JPMorgan blocked Gemini over public criticism

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Tyler Winklevoss claims JPMorgan blocked Gemini over public criticism

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Tyler Winklevoss claims JPMorgan paused Gemini’s onboarding after he criticized the bank’s data access fees, calling the move anti-competitive.

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

A charity has warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to evacuate children who need “critical medical assistance” to the UK.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels – with patients and healthcare workers both fighting to survive.

It claimed that, at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks – and described the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

The charity also criticised the high number of fatalities seen at aid distribution sites, with one British surgeon accusing IDF soldiers of shooting civilians “almost like a game of target practice”.

MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, said: “Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.”

The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food – the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the GHF.

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‘Many more deaths unless Israelis allow food in’

In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.

The GHF has also previously disputed that these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and has accused the UN of failing to distribute it, in what the foreign ministry has labelled as “a deliberate ploy” to defame the country.

‘Humanitarian catastrophe must end’

In a video message posted on X late last night, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the scenes in Gaza as “appalling” and “unrelenting” – and said “the images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying”.

The prime minister added: “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.

“Hundreds of civilians have been killed while seeking aid – children, killed, whilst collecting water. It is a humanitarian catastrophe, and it must end.”

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Israeli military show aid waiting inside Gaza

Sir Keir confirmed that the British government is now “accelerating efforts” to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance, so they can be brought to the UK for specialist treatment.

Israel has now said that foreign countries will be able to airdrop aid into Gaza. While the PM says the UK will now “do everything we can” to get supplies in via this route, he said this decision has come “far too late”.

Read more:
WHO: Gaza faces ‘manmade’ starvation
UN: People in Gaza ‘walking corpses’

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Last year, the RAF dropped aid into Gaza, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough and was potentially dangerous. In March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and supplies fell on them.

For now, Sir Keir has rejected calls to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and recognise a Palestinian state despite more than 220 MPs signing a cross-party letter to demand he takes this step.

The prime minister is instead demanding a ceasefire and “lasting peace” – and says he will only consider an independent state as part of a negotiated peace deal.

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