Labour says it would ‘temporarily’ house refugees on offshore barges

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Labour government would temporarily continue with the government's plan to house refugees on barges moored offshore, the party’s immigration minister has said. Speaking on Sunday Stephen Kinnock said his party would be “forced” to put people on the ships for a limited period of time, perhaps six months. “Because of the complete and utter chaos and shambles of the Tory asylum crisis, we are going to have to continue in a very short-term period to use the infrastructure that is there, including the barges and the hotels.” At the end of July, the Home Office was forced to delay its plan to move people seeking asylum onto the Bibby Stockholm barge to carry out last-minute safety checks. “I’m confident that within six months of a Labour government we will be getting on top of the backlog and clearing people out of hotels and putting them into suitable accommodation, or removing them from the country properly because they have no right to be here.” His assertion came as Rishi Sunak was accused of “cooking the books” by removing thousands of asylum claims from the system.