Hundreds of asylum seekers are being moved from the Bibby Stockholm to a hotel and council accommodation in the Midlands as ministers rush to close the barge by Christmas.
Around 400 people will be transferred from the vessel in Portland, Dorset, after it was axed by the Labour government as part of its review of the asylum system.
Some will be transferred to a hotel in Wolverhampton, while others will be placed in accommodation in Worksop with the support of Bassetlaw council.
It comes amid reports the Home Office may be about to open more asylum hotels as demand soars following the arrival of nearly 150,000 migrants over the last six years.
As of June, almost 30,000 migrants were situated in over 250 hotels, costing the taxpayer £4.2million daily.
Around 400 people will be transferred from the Bibby Stockholm after it was axed by the Labour government as part of its review of the asylum system
Migrants board an overloaded boat off the coast of France on Friday
While the number of new asylum hotels have been confirmed, a Home Office source told Times Radio that more are coming in the ‘days and weeks‘.
However the insider did claim the number was less than that outlined by the Conservatives prior to Labour’s loveless landslide in the 2024 general election.
Ministers are developing contingency plans to avoid a recurrence of the autumn 2022 situation, where the asylum centre at Manston in Kent became dangerously overcrowded, resulting in disease and violence due to insufficient ‘upstream accommodation’ for migrants after their processing.
Yvette Cooper is optimistic that the Home Office will process the 87,217 claims pending initial decisions within a year to a year and a half by enhancing the decision-making rate.
There are currently an additional 137,525 waiting to hear back about their appeals or individuals waiting to be removed from the UK.
A total of 28,645 people are now believed to have crossed the Channel this year alone as of Friday, almost eight per cent higher when compared to the same point last year.
At least 55 people have died making the crossing in what has been described as the deadliest year for crossing so far.
The Bibby Stockholm is one of two major asylum accommodation sites established by the Conservative government in an attempt to reduce the then £8million daily cost of putting up migrants in hotels.
The contract for the use of the Bibby Stockholm ends in January. A separate site, RAF Wethersfield in Essex, continues to house 500 single male migrants.
The relocation of migrants from the Bibby Stockholm has sparked anger.
Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership candidate whose constituency covers Bassetlaw, said: ‘Illegal migration is not a political football. It’s a national security emergency and a source of real anger for millions of Britons.
‘Rather than playing politics by sending migrants to punish their opponents, Labour should get on with stopping the boats by strengthening, not scrapping, the Rwanda scheme.’
But a Home Office source told the Telegraph: ‘On July 4, the Tories left Britain in the middle of the worst year ever for small boat arrivals, on track to exceed the total for 2023 before the end of September.
‘They also halted most of the asylum decision-making, so thousands of people went into an ever growing backlog, and an expectation that substantially more asylum accommodation would be needed later in the year.
‘The Government is acting step by step to get the system back on track, increase border security, end hotel use and re-establish an asylum and immigration system that is properly managed and controlled, so the system is fair.’
Some 225 people crossed over in four boats on Sunday, bringing the number of arrivals so far this year to nearly 30,000, according to the latest Home Office data.
This came as French authorities confirmed the death of a migrant on that same day who was in the boat which left from the town of Tardinghen in northern France at 5.30am.
Five others, including three young children, were hospitalised after the overcrowded boat of the man, who was Indian and 40 years old, quickly deflated and the people on board swam back to the beach.
Emergency services tried to help him but he died at the scene.
