8 January 2025: Guardian: Life and death on the Bibby Stockholm: âNo one wanted to go inside â but we had no choiceâ
From the moment it was announced that asylum seekers would be accommodated on this hulking, prison-like barge, the scheme was steeped in controversy. As it leaves British waters, here is the inside story
The asylum seekers sent to live on the Bibby Stockholm complained of the same recurring dream. As they slept in narrow bunk beds on the barge, they dreamed they were disappeared from the UK in the dead of night, the boat slipped from its moorings by the Home Office, drifting into the open sea towards Rwanda.
The dream was not surprising. At the time, in 2023 and 2024, the Conservative governmentâs two highest profile schemes to âstop the boatsâ crossing the Channel were the barge and a plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Both policies prompted eye-catching headlines. Neither succeeded.
But while no Rwanda flight ever got off the ground â thwarted by a series of legal challenges and the end of the Tory government â the Bibby Stockholm policy was actually rolled out. The first asylum seekers moved on to the barge on 7 August 2023 and the final group moved out on 26 November 2024.