Migrants who refuse to board Portland barge warned they'll lose Government support
The Home Office says there's a 'no choice basis' for asylum seekers
Asylum seekers who refuse to board a barge in Dorset face having their government support cancelled.
A letter from the Home Office is warning that those who haven't got on the Bibby Stockholm at Portland Port have until today (Tuesday 8th August) to do so - on what it's calling a "no-choice basis".
We've been hearing from a Syrian man, was one of around 20 asylum seekers who didn't board yesterday, after lawyers challenged the decisions.
He's been living in a hotel in Bournemouth for the past six months and says getting on the Bibby would have an impact on his mental health:
"We all ran away from war, trauma, conflict... if you squeeze me into a smaller place, you're putting me back in that small room, where I was hiding and ISIS were attacking our area."
Steve Smith, Chief Executive of refugee charity Care For Calais, says the Government claims of cancelling support are a bluff:
"It's more of a threat than an acutal reality - are they really going to take 500 potential asylum seekers and kick them out onto the streets? That would be absolutely absurd. These are people who are going through the asylum process, and you'd lose all track of them and then have them destitute on the streets of the United Kingdom. It's sheer nonsense, that couldn't possibly happen."
Meanwhile, the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has defended the Conservative Party Chairman, Lee Anderson, after he said asylum seekers complaining about the Bibby Stockholm barge should "f*** off back to France".
Mr Chalk said the "indignation" of the Ashfield MP was "well placed" after just 15 migrants entered the floating accommodation off the Dorset coast on Monday (7th August).
The Government has said the barge, which was initially designed to fit about 200 people, has a 500-person capacity.
The Liberal Democrats branded Mr Chalk's defence of the remarks "toe-curling".
Freedom from Torture, a refugee charity, said the "dehumanising and inflammatory" language puts people seeking sanctuary in the UK at "real risk".
Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy for the organisation, said:
"Time and time again, we're seeing Government ministers amping up the cruelty of their anti-refugee rhetoric to distract from their own catastrophic mismanagement of both the asylum system and of this country.
"The dehumanising and inflammatory language used by certain politicians is putting people seeking sanctuary in this country at real risk, including the survivors that Freedom from Torture treat every day."
Home Office figures released on Monday showed that the number of asylum seekers being housed in temporary hotel accommodation passed 50,000 in June this year - up by around 10,000 from December.