Asylum seekers reboard Bibby Stockholm after Legionella evacuation

Published

2 years ago

October 19, 2023

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Asylum seekers have reboarded the Bibby Stockholm barge after they were evacuated when Legionella bacteria was discovered two months ago.

The vessel – docked at Portland Port in Dorset – is part of the government’s plans to deal with illegal migration into the UK. The Home Office says using the ship – with a capacity of more than 500 – is cheaper than using hotels to house people.

When the Bibby Stockholm was evacuated, it was reported that 39 people had been staying on it. That number is now understood to be 21 after the activity today.

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At least one coach carrying people arrived at the port complex today, and people carrying suitcases and other bags were seen boarding the ship.

The arrival was met with a small number of protesters, who said the nautical detention was “inhumane” and “like a prison”.

Members of the climate protest group Just Stop Oil also tried to prevent the coach from reaching Bibby Stockholm, with a post on social media showing the group holding orange banners as the vehicle kept driving.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said “two men were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. A further report was received of criminal damage to a police vehicle and a third man was also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.”

Some people helped produce “welcome bags” for the arrivals which included shampoo, toothpaste, notebooks and a map of the local area.

It is expected that people will be housed on the Bibby Stockholm for around six to nine months, and it has been berthed there for a period of 18 months. Those who refuse to board the boat risk losing their support from the Home Office.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “From today, we are beginning to move people back on to the Bibby Stockholm in Portland. All necessary tests including health, fire and water checks have been completed, and are all satisfactory.

“The number of people on board will increase gradually with more arrivals in the coming days and months, as part of a carefully structured, phased approach. 

“This is part of the government’s pledge to reduce the use of expensive hotels and bring forward alternative accommodation options which provide a more cost-effective, sustainable and manageable system for the UK taxpayer and local communities.”

They added that everyone being moved onto the barge would get five days’ notice and would get assessed against suitability criteria while also being checked against police and immigration databases. Fingerprints and identities would be taken down as well.

A full system cleanse of the plumbing has been completed, and the vessel had been given the all clear for Legionella bacteria.

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Since the introduction of the government’s Illegal Migration Act, those who arrive in the UK illegally are unable to claim asylum and instead face being deported to countries like Rwanda to have their asylum claims heard.

This hinges on the legality of the Rwanda scheme, which is being decided by the Supreme Court.

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Politics

Crypto regulation needs more technologists and fewer suits

Published

3 hours ago

June 16, 2025

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Crypto regulation needs more technologists and fewer suits

The crypto community is missing the opportunity to reimagine rather than transpose rulemaking for financial services. More technologists must join the regulatory conversation.

Politics

Whitehall officials tried to cover up grooming scandal in 2011, Dominic Cummings says

Published

3 hours ago

June 16, 2025

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Whitehall officials tried to cover up grooming scandal in 2011, Dominic Cummings says

Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011, Sky News can reveal.

Dominic Cummings, who was working for Lord Gove at the time, has told Sky News that officials in the Department for Education (DfE) wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council to stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Cummings said that officials wanted a “total cover-up”.

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The revelation shines a light on the institutional reluctance of some key officials in central government to publicly highlight the grooming gang scandal.

In 2011, Rotherham Council approached the Department for Education asking for help following inquiries by The Times. The paper’s then chief reporter, the late Andrew Norfolk, was asking about sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Rotherham.

The council went to Lord Gove’s Department for Education for help. Officials considered the request and then recommended to Lord Gove’s office that the minister back a judicial review which might, if successful, stop The Times publishing the story.

Lord Gove rejected the request on the advice of Mr Cummings. Sources have independently confirmed Mr Cummings’ account.

Mr Cummings told Sky News: “Officials came to me in the Department of Education and said: ‘There’s this Times journalist who wants to write the story about these gangs. The local authority wants to judicially review it and stop The Times publishing the story’.

“So I went to Michael Gove and said: ‘This council is trying to actually stop this and they’re going to use judicial review. You should tell the council that far from siding with the council to stop The Times you will write to the judge and hand over a whole bunch of documents and actually blow up the council’s JR (judicial review).’

“Some officials wanted a total cover-up and were on the side of the council…

“They wanted to help the local council do the cover-up and stop The Times’ reporting, but other officials, including in the DfE private office, said this is completely outrageous and we should blow it up. Gove did, the judicial review got blown up, Norfolk stories ran.”

The judicial review wanted by officials would have asked a judge to decide about the lawfulness of The Times’ publication plans and the consequences that would flow from this information entering the public domain.

A second source told Sky News that the advice from officials was to side with Rotherham Council and its attempts to stop publication of details it did not want in the public domain.

One of the motivations cited for stopping publication would be to prevent the identities of abused children entering the public domain.

There was also a fear that publication could set back the existing attempts to halt the scandal, although incidents of abuse continued for many years after these cases.

Sources suggested that there is also a natural risk aversion amongst officials to publicity of this sort.

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Mr Cummings, who ran the Vote Leave Brexit campaign and was Boris Johnson’s right-hand man in Downing Street, has long pushed for a national inquiry into grooming gangs to expose failures at the heart of government.

He said the inquiry, announced today, “will be a total s**tshow for Whitehall because it will reveal how much Whitehall worked to try and cover up the whole thing.”

He also described Mr Johnson, with whom he has a long-standing animus, as a “moron’ for saying that money spent on inquiries into historic child sexual abuse had been “spaffed up the wall”.

Asked by Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates why he had not pushed for a public inquiry himself when he worked in Number 10 in 2019-20, Mr Cummings said Brexit and then COVID had taken precedence.

“There are a million things that I wanted to do but in 2019 we were dealing with the constitutional crisis,” he said.

The Department for Education and Rotherham Council have been approached for comment.