MADRID, August 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UK Home Office secretary to Parliament, Sarah Dines, has confirmed that authorities are working to “immediately” transfer nearly 500 asylum seekers to the ship ‘Bibby Stockholm’, which is permanently anchored in Portland harbour.

Dines had assured this Monday on British radio station LBC’s Today programme, that the transfer would be made “soon”, possibly “this week” or “in the coming days”, although he has not given a specific date. , he has collected the newspaper ‘The Guardian’.

In this sense, he explained that the ship is a “strong message” that there will be “adequate accommodation”, even if it is no longer a luxury hotel, as gangs and criminal organizations use the accommodation to entice migrants.

The ship will operate for at least 18 months. According to the UK Government, it will provide “basic accommodation” to “single men while their asylum application is processed” and will have medical care, catering as well as security 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

While presenting the act, the Government assured in April that it was spending six million pounds a day (6.8 million euros) to pay for the reception of asylum seekers in hotels. The initiative to transfer asylum seekers to ships docked in ports is part of a new migration law approved in the country last July.

The law, a cornerstone of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s policy, seeks to stop the arrival of migrants by boat across the English Channel and has been widely criticized by lawyers and human rights groups.

In particular, it allows expulsions to take place before finalizing an asylum request or deporting the migrant to a third country, such as Rwanda. British authorities estimated this Monday that more than 15,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel since the start of the year.