Lee Anderson tells migrants refusing to board Bibby Stockholm: ‘If they don’t like barges they should f*** off back to France’
Senior Tory MP Lee Anderson today hit back at asylum seekers who refused to board the Bibby Stockholm, telling them: ‘If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France’.
The Conservative Deputy Chairman spoke out after 20 migrants declined to get on the ship in Portland Port after lawyers claimed some had a ‘severe fear of water’ after crossing seas to get to Britain.
An irate Mr Anderson said: ‘If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France.
‘I think people have just had enough. These people come across the Channel in small boats, if they don’t like the conditions they are housed in here then they should go back to France or better not come at all in the first place’.
Lee Anderson, pictured with the PM, has told migrants to ‘f*** off back to France’ if they won’t board Bibby Stockholm
The Bibby Stockholm barge at Portland Port today
Mr Anderson has hit back at criticism of his views and language
Labour has slammed Mr Anderson’s ‘f*** off’ warning, with Diane Abbott calling his outburst: ‘A new low even for the Tories’.
In the face of criticism of his words to the Daily Express, the Tory Deputy Chairman tweeted: ‘Note to the Left. Every illegal migrant that crosses the Channel from France is taking the place of someone genuinely in danger in a refugee camp. Why can’t you see that these fit healthy young men are actually preventing help reaching those desperate people who really need it?’.
READ MORE: Migrants told – Get on the Bibby Stockholm today or be homeless
More asylum seekers are set to arrive on the barge (pictured) over the course of the day
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk suggested today it is ‘lawful’ to remove accommodation offer to those refusing to board the barge and defended Lee Anderson’s ‘salty’ language.
Mr Chalk acknowledged it is ‘frustrating’ that just 15 migrants have boarded the 500-capacity Bibby Stockholm barge amid a series of legal challenges.
‘Of course it’s frustrating. It requires a huge amount of time and effort and organisation to procure these alternatives.
‘I think the British people would expect their Government to do that if it is our cheaper alternative… it doesn’t diminish our resolve to solve this,’ he told BBC Breakfast.
It came as asylum seekers were warned that they must board the Bibby Stockholm today or have their free accommodation withdrawn. 15 men spent their first night on the vessel last night – but 20 refused to board.
The group’s transfer onto the barge in Portland Port were ‘cancelled’ on Monday after legal challenges from representatives of Care4Calais claimed the Home Office had not screened them to see if it was suitable to put them there.
The charity’s CEO Steve Smith has since revealed that some of the asylum seekers it supported didn’t board the vessel yesterday due to ‘mental health concerns’, some of which arose from being ‘traumatised by seeing their friends drown at sea’.
The legal firm behind the last-minute legal challenges is understood to be London-based Duncan Lewis, which played a key role in challenging the Government’s Rwanda asylum scheme.
However, it is understood that the ‘pre-action letters’ issued by the law firm could lead to the withdrawal of migrants’ free, full-board accommodation. In that event, they would be declared homeless and responsibility for their housing would pass to their local authority.
Pictures showed men being escorted on to the Bibby Stockholm barge by staff in high-vis jackets, while a coach was also seen arriving at the port
People are seen carrying rucksacks and plastic bags as they climb aboard the Bibby Stockholm on Monday afternoon
In total, 15 migrants were transferred to the barge from hotels in Oxford, Bristol, Torbay and Bournemouth, as the government’s solution to its rocketing £6million-a-day hotel bill for new arrivals was put into action. It will eventually house 500 men aged 18 to 65 as they wait for their asylum applications to be processed.
Ministers confirm Rwanda ‘Plan B’ talks
Ministers last night confirmed alternative plans are being drawn up in case the Rwanda asylum deal is blocked by the courts.
It came after the Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Channel migrants could be sent to Ascension Island for processing as part of a radical ‘Plan B’.
As a further fall-back, up to five other countries – all believed to be in Africa – are in negotiations to take asylum seekers. Home Office minister Sarah Dines said the Government was examining ‘additional schemes across the globe’.
Former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said housing migrants on Ascension, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, was previously ruled out as it would cost £1million a head and was ‘thought to be impossibly expensive to do’.
The £140million Rwanda deal, which involves sending migrants to the east African nation to claim asylum there rather than here, was blocked on human rights grounds by the Court of Appeal in June.
Ms Dines said the Government was ‘confident’ it will be declared lawful, with the Supreme Court due to hear the Home Office’s appeal in October, and a ruling expected six to eight weeks later.
Ascension was first looked at as a possible location for a processing centre in 2021. As it is British soil, it would remove some of the legal difficulties involved in deporting migrants to a foreign state.
But it is understood the plans were abandoned largely due to objections from the US military, which has a presence on the island. A source familiar with the initial negotiations said: ‘The Americans didn’t want people poking around there.
‘You’d be sending migrants… whose affiliations are unclear. You wouldn’t be able to detain them, and they’d be free to roam on the island.’
The 34-square-mile territory has no hospital and moving large numbers of migrants and staff there could overload existing power and water facilities.
At the port campaigners brought flowers and welcome packs containing basic toiletries and other useful items, including a map of the area. But they were not able to give these directly to the migrants and had to leave them with security staff at the port gate.
Addressing the asylum seekers who were appealing against being moved to the barge, Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson said: ‘If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France.’
Meanwhile, one man vox-popped by the BBC News at 10 said they have ‘en-suite showers, they’re getting three cooked meals a day. Really they’re living like kings.’
Yesterday, new figures showed the number of migrants staying in hotels has hit 50,000, a 25 per cent increase from 40,000 in December, when Rishi Sunak promised to end the placement of asylum seekers in hotels.
The enormous three-storey barge is the length of a football pitch and has 222 en-suite bedrooms, a gym and a 24-hour canteen. Asylum seekers living onboard will take part in activities including cricket, cycling, tending allotments and going on guided hikes in the Dorset countryside.
They will also take part in organised ‘cultural events’ and get free buses and taxis to enjoy local towns. Buses every hour from 7am to 11pm will ferry men to Weymouth, a nearby seaside resort with a beach, fishing boat fleet and marina.
If they miss the 11pm bus back to the barge, free taxis are available by phoning a special number. On top of free food, accommodation and transport, each migrant is given £9.58 a week pocket money.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Smith revealed that none of the 20 migrants his charity was supporting had gone to the barge as ‘legal representatives have had their transfers cancelled’.
‘These 20 range from survivors of torture to people who have been beaten, shot at, some arrested, some traumatised by seeing their friends drown at sea and who therefore have a severe fear of water,’ he told The Telegraph.
‘There are therefore mental health concerns and a very worried and very traumatised community. Details of those individuals have been passed to lawyers who have raised challenges about the suitability screening.
‘There appears to have been no suitability screening. I understand that on that basis some removals to the barge have ceased.’
Speaking elsewhere, he added: ‘To house any human being in a ”quasi floating prison” like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane.
‘To try and do so with this group of people is unbelievably cruel. Even just receiving the notices is causing them a great deal of anxiety.’
The Stand Up To Racism campaign group said the asylum seekers who avoided transfer to the barge included nine housed in Bournemouth.
A government source said: ‘This just shows what we are up against: Left-wing charities and lawyers are repeatedly trying to stop us from moving illegal migrants out of expensive hotels.
‘Other European countries use barges safely and at lower costs than hotels. Labour need to quit trying to sabotage our plans to stop the boats. It’s time they backed the barge.’
Yesterday, Portland resident Ian Broadhurst got into a heated debate with the Stand Up To Racism campaigners asking why they were giving help to strangers instead of helping poverty-stricken islanders.
Mr Broadhurst, who does charity work with the local food bank and community fridge, said: ‘This isn’t being racist, this is saying we need to look after ourselves. We cannot afford them here when we can’t even look after our own people.’
Home Office minister Sarah Dines said the vessel – which previously housed oil and gas workers – would provide ‘basic but proper accommodation’ and that those who arrive in the UK by illegal means ‘can’t expect to stay in a four-star hotel’.
She told the BBC on Monday: ‘What it sends is a forceful message that there will be proper accommodation but not luxurious.
‘Luxurious hotel accommodation has been part of the pull, I’m afraid. There have been promises made abroad by the organised criminal gangs and organisations which have tried to get people into the country unlawfully and they say, ”You will be staying in a very nice hotel in the middle of a town in England”.
‘That needs to stop and the barge is just one of a wide range of other measures.’
The Bibby Stockholm, pictured in Portland Port on Monday night, has received its first asylum seekers
Fewer migrants than expected arrived on the barge yesterday after last-minute legal challenges. Pictured: The Bibby Stockholm (front) moored to the quayside of Portland Port
A blue coach was seen arriving at Portland Port on Monday morning as campaigners gathered outside the gates
An aerial view of a blue coach arriving at Portland Port in Dorset on Monday morning
A coach arrives at the front gates as the Bibby Stockholm welcomes its first asylum seekers in Portland, Dorset
Some of the brown card bags containing bunches of flowers
Lawyers for some asylum seekers blocked their transfers by claiming their clients had a ‘fear of water’. Pictured: Migrants cross the English Channel on a small boat
A range of meals will be served from the barge’s canteen. Food is available 24 hours a day, including breakfast and a three-course lunch and dinner
Those on board the controversial barge can make the most of comfortable sofas in the TV room
The vessel’s previous capacity of 222 has been doubled to 500 by putting bunk beds in its cabins and converting some communal rooms into dormitories for four to six men.
Ms Dines said the barge would be in use ‘imminently’, despite a series of delays, and suggested it could house 500 asylum seekers by the end of the week.
She also confirmed ‘all possibilities’ for tackling the migrant crisis are being examined, following reports that the Government is considering reviving plans to fly people who arrive by unauthorised means 4,000 miles to Ascension Island.
While only a small number of migrants are expected to be housed on the barge at first, Ms Dines suggested it could increase rapidly to its capacity of around 500 men.
Pressed on whether all of them could be on board by the end of the week, Ms Dines said: ‘Yes, quite possibly it will be 500. We are hoping.’
But Downing Street appeared to suggest she had misspoken, with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman saying that while ‘no limit’ had been set on how many people would board the barge this week, the Government’s plan was to reach the capacity ‘over time’, adding: ‘I don’t think we are aiming to do it by the weekend.’
The Home Office later clarified the total would be reached over a longer period of time and not by the end of the week.
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