![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/first-migrants-board-asylum-seeker-barge-as-tory-plan-descends-into-chaos/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/0_JS306213056.jpg&description=Migrants have boarded the Bibby Stockholm moored on the Isle of Portland, with more due later today, as Downing Street was forced to correct a Home Office Minister over the numbers expected this week The first asylum seekers arrived on a migrant barge today as the Tory plan to house them descended into chaos. A small number of migrants boarded the Bibby Stockholm after weeks of delays. Home Office Minister Sarah Dines claimed up to 500 could join the vessel by Saturday. "Yes, quite possibly it will be 500. We are hoping," she told the BBC. However, she was slapped down by No10 with the Prime Minister's spokesman dismissing the claim. He said: 'That is about the upward capacity of the Bibby Stockholm rather than the numbers we are looking to get in by the end of the week. Numbers will increase over time as you would expect for any new asylum facility." More than 15,000 migrants have arrived in the UK on small inflatables so far this year after crossing the Channel, Government figures show. Some 339 people made the journey on Friday and Saturday, taking the provisional total for 2023 to date to 15,071. Ministers want up to 500 asylum seekers to eventually be housed on the 305ft Bibby Stockholm - despite concerns from the Fire Brigades Union over the barge designed to house about 200. The 1970s-built, 10,659-ton vessel with 222 cabins was towed to the Isle of Portland, Dorset, last month but plans to move migrants onto the barge have been delayed amid safety fears. Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock has confirmed Labour would house migrants on barges for a "very short" period while a backlog of asylum bids is tackled. Meanwhile, desperate Tories are reviving plans to send migrants 4,000 miles away to Ascension Island. The volcanic isle could house an asylum processing centre as Conservatives look for ways to slash the number of small boats making the perilous crossing over the Channel. The idea was scrapped three years ago but now ministers are studying it aga){kind=link}
Migrants have boarded the Bibby Stockholm moored on the Isle of Portland, with more due later today, as Downing Street was forced to correct a Home Office Minister over the numbers expected this week
The first asylum seekers arrived on a migrant barge today as the Tory plan to house them descended into chaos.
A small number of migrants boarded the Bibby Stockholm after weeks of delays. Home Office Minister Sarah Dines claimed up to 500 could join the vessel by Saturday. “Yes, quite possibly it will be 500. We are hoping,” she told the BBC.
However, she was slapped down by No10 with the Prime Minister’s spokesman dismissing the claim. He said: “That is about the upward capacity of the Bibby Stockholm rather than the numbers we are looking to get in by the end of the week. Numbers will increase over time as you would expect for any new asylum facility.”
More than 15,000 migrants have arrived in the UK on small inflatables so far this year after crossing the Channel, Government figures show. Some 339 people made the journey on Friday and Saturday, taking the provisional total for 2023 to date to 15,071.