Bibby Stockholm: Migrant barge faces legal challenge over fire safety

Government plans to accommodate asylum seekers on a barge face on England's south coast a possible legal challenge over fire safety.

Lawyers for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) have written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman raising issues including overcrowding and fire exit access on board the Bibby Stockholm.

The government has been given until Thursday to respond.

The Home Office says the wellbeing of asylum seekers is a priority.

The Bibby Stockholm is a three-story barge, currently berthed in Portland Port, Dorset, which is intended to hold around 500 men while they await the outcome of their asylum applications.

The first people were moved onto it at the start of this month, although they were later removed when the Legionella bacteria, which can cause serious illness, was detected.

Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the FBU, said the union had moved towards a legal challenge after spending weeks trying to raise concerns with the government.

In their letter to the Home Office, lawyers for the FBU cited media reports which said the Bibby Stockholm had only 222 single-occupancy rooms, but that additional beds had been placed in each in order to to increase the capacity to 506.

Other reports said that, while the barge had three fire exits, one was not operational because it was at the end of a gangway that had been deemed too steep to be safely used.

A whistleblower in the local authority is also quoted as telling the Times that fire checks in July had led to serious safety concerns and describing the barge as having the potential to become a "floating Grenfell".

The FBU previously asked to meet with Ms Braverman to discuss its concerns, but the request was turned down.

In a letter to the union on 17 August, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the government had already engaged with all the appropriate bodies.

He added that the safety requirement for the Bibby Stockholm were the same as for any berthed vessel and that fire safety checks had been completed successfully.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The health and welfare of asylum seekers remains of the utmost priority.

"The Bibby Stockholm successfully completed all fire and safety checks ahead the first individuals boarding. The vessel completed a statutory inspection and refurbishment before undergoing final preparations to accommodate asylum seekers."

The latest challenge comes as the Home Office considers plans to fit people arriving illegally in the UK with GPS tags as an alternative to detaining them because of a lack of space in the immigration detention estate, according to the Times.