In an ITV interview Sir Keir Starmer refused to give a straight answer regarding the use of the Bibby Stockholm barge if he becomes Prime Minister.
Mr Starmer was asked several times if he would continue to use the barge. He gave no straight answer.
ITV: What would you do with the Bibby Stockholm and the asylum seekers on board if you're prime minister?
Starmer: Well, the thing we need to do in relation to asylum seekers is to make sure that we stop people climbing into boats on the Northern coast of France.
ITV: What would you do with the barge that's moored off Portland currently housing a couple of hundred asylum seekers. What would you do about that?
Starmer: That is evidence of the failure of the government. They are using barges. They're using hotels. It's costing the taxpayer absolutely fortunes, we cannot go on like this.
ITV: But would you get rid of it? Would you get rid of the barge?
Starmer: At the moment, what's happening is, the number of people coming across the channel is at record numbers again, I think, today. We have to stop that happening. And until we get control of our borders, until we fix that problem, you've got an ever bigger problem, whether it's barges or hotels that haven't been fixed.
ITV: But your your Shadow Immigration Minister has previously said he does not agree with the use of barges. We've seen reports of conditions on board, some describing them as prison like. If you are prime minister in 2 weeks' time, are people going to stay on that barge?
Starmer: We're not planning to have more barges and more hotels.
ITV: I'm talking about the one that exists at the moment in Dorset. Are you going to get rid of it?
Starmer: We need to reduce the problem in the first place.
You can watch the video below, on X/Twitter or on the ITV website.
https://twitter.com/LucyJMcDaid/status/1803470129637753143
