Harrogate and Knaresborough MP supports housing asylum seekers on barge

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has said he supports the use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to house migrants.

The barge, moored in Dorset, has dominated the news this week.

Thirty-nine migrants onboard were removed on Friday after traces of Legionella bacteria were found in the water system.

However, the government remains committed to housing up to 500 men aged 18 to 65 on the vessel while they await the outcome of asylum applications — and Mr Jones agrees. He said:

“The people coming to this country on small boats are not fleeing an immediate threat of persecution.  They are coming from France.

“They are being exploited by people smugglers who are responsible for hundreds of migrant deaths in the Channel and in the Mediterranean. This is international, organised crime and we must not simply ignore it.

“I am interested in helping genuine refugees and preventing drownings in coastal waters. I also want to see migrants who are not fleeing persecution returned to their home country quickly.

“So I do agree with the decision to use the Bibby Stockholm as it will help speed up our processing of asylum applications, prevent people absconding once they arrive here and help us get genuine refugees into our housing and healthcare system quickly.”

‘We should be proud of our record’

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Jones if he agreed with fellow Tory MP Lee Anderson’s comment that the government had failed on immigration.

We also asked what he thought of Mr Anderson saying asylum seekers should “f*** off back to France” if they don’t like being housed on the barge. Last year Mr Jones told the Commons there was a ”problem with standards in our politics”.

Mr Jones said there was a collective failure across continents to tackle the issue. He said:

“People leaving poor countries where that country is a safe place and trying to get to rich countries is not something that can be prevented by the United Kingdom alone.  It is a global problem which requires a global response.

“That said, we should be proud of our record on helping genuine refugees. Since 2015 we have offered a safe and legal route to the UK to almost half a million men, women and children seeking refuge as well as family members of refugees.”

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Mr Jones suggested he disapproved of the use of the f word by Mr Anderson, who is deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. He said:

“Anyone who knows me, even slightly, knows how I express myself and it is very different to the way Mr Anderson expresses himself.  Indeed it is different to the way Labour’s Diane Abbott expressed herself on Twitter on exactly the same issue.

“I like to dial down the heat and focus on the facts.  And those facts are that we have migrants coming to this country, some legally and some illegally.  We need to help those who genuinely need it and return those who do not to their home countries.”

 

Minister: no plans to house migrants at ex-airfield near Harrogate district — for now

The government has no current plans to house migrants at a former RAF base on the edge of the Harrogate district, Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has said.

The government scrapped plans last year to house 1,500 asylum seekers at Linton-on-Ouse after a fierce backlash from local people and politicians.

The former airfield is nine miles from Boroughbridge, 13 miles from Knaresborough, and even closer to Harrogate district villages such as Great Ouseburn, Little Ouseburn and Nun Monkton.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons yesterday the government was now considering housing migrants at at Catterick Garrison in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency.

Ex-military bases in Essex, Lincolnshire and East Sussex are also being assessed for suitability as part of plans to cut down on hotel use.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel, who was behind the Linton proposal, said the proposed Essex site “is no different in rurality and village size from a former site, Linton-on-Ouse”, adding:

“Why is it deemed appropriate for asylum seeker accommodation for single men to be placed in a rural village in Essex, where there is no infrastructure and no amenities, when it was not appropriate for somewhere like Linton-on-Ouse?”

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In response, Mr Jenrick said:

“We do not have a current plan to proceed with the Linton-on-Ouse proposition, but the sites I have announced today are just the first set that we would like to take forward, because we want to remove people from hotels as quickly as possible and move to this more rudimentary form of accommodation, which will reduce pull factors to the UK and defend the interests of the taxpayer.

Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the announcement as “an admission of failure” on asylum policy.