Braverman backs Bibby Stockholm despite closure plan

The Bibby Stockholm housed migrants awaiting the results of their asylum claims

As the first buses brought asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm barge in August 2023, protesters tried to block the road.

The slogan on one placard summed up for me how high the stakes had been set.

A well-dressed middle-aged protester had written “Stop the Boats, Stop the Votes”.

Politicians knew if they got their plan for the Bibby Stockholm wrong, the blame would be placed squarely on them.

And at the subsequent elections the voters showed their displeasure.

Labour ejected the local Conservative MP in Dorset South Richard Drax at the general election and the Liberal Democrats took control of Dorset Council in May, even though both had opposed the barge in the first place.

Campaigners opposing the barge have held protest marches

But Suella Braverman, the home secretary who came up with the plan, is still backing the Bibby Stockholm.

"I set up the barge there because we were desperate for accommodation and I was resolute in not wanting to use more hotels around the country," she said.

In Parliament’s Central Lobby she told me despite the cost, and the failures of the accommodation, she still believes closing the barge is a mistake.

"I was a firm believer in creating bespoke asylum accommodation in all appropriate forms that we could muster and that barge was an appropriate form of accommodation.

"The closure of that barge will just mean more hotels being used to house migrants in towns and cities up and down the country. That’s not what the British people want," she added.

Suella Braverman came up with the plan to use the Bibby Stockholm during her time as Home Secretary

Parliament heard this week that the new government is processing migrant cases more quickly - 10,000 a month up from around 1,000, but there is a long way to go to reduce the bill for hotels.

Smaller than some of the biggest hotels for migrants, the Bibby Stockholm was always going to have more value as a deterrent - a floating billboard for the hostile environment. It certainly did make the point.

Over the summer migrant hotels became a focus for protest that in many places spilled into rioting. Mid Dorset and North Poole Liberal Democrat MP Vikki Slade blames frustration over asylum policy.

She said: "People felt really angry and there was deliberate division."

"If you’ve got hundreds of predominantly young men in one place that appear not to be contributing, it’s understandable that the community is going to be frustrated."

Ms Slade feels allowing asylum seekers to work would defuse community tension.

"Many of those young people, mostly young men, want to work. They want to contribute. They’ve come here to do something positive and we’re preventing them from doing that. It’s politically and economically ridiculous."

There were many on Portland who tried to make the barge work, ran courses for asylum seekers, helped them with welcome gifts.

But in an isolated part of the country where public services were already under strain, the barge was a focus for protest and division.