'Evasive' Rishi Sunak 'must come clean' over Bibby Stockholm warnings, PM told
"Evasive" Rishi Sunak must come clean over whether he was warned about health concerns before asylum seekers were moved onto a barge, campaigners said.
It comes after the PM swerved a question about whether he'd personally been told about risks to people housed on the Bibby Stockholm.
The 500-capacity boat has been sitting empty in Portland, Dorset, since Friday after Legionella was found onboard. It has since emerged that test results confirming the presence of the deadly bacteria in the water supply came through on Monday - the day the first people were transferred on.
Facing reporters for the first time since the fiasco, which happened while he was on holiday, Mr Sunak said meekly: "What has happened here is it's right that we go through all the checks and procedures to ensure the wellbeing and health of the people who are being housed on the barge."
Rishi Sunak swerved a question on what he'd been told about health risks (PA Wire)But he declined to reveal what warnings he'd been given. Ministers say they acted quickly once they were informed on Thursday evening, with 39 asylum seekers evacuated the following day.
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Steve Smith, chief executive of refugee charity Care4Calais said if the PM and Home Secretary weren't aware Legionella was found on the day people were transferred to the barge, it is a sign of "gross incompetence or sheer apathy".
And told The Mirror: “Rishi Sunak should come clean. Why did his Government put people at risk by putting them on board a barge that had traces of legionella in the water system?
"Why were those people left on the barge for several days? And why, even after the media started reporting on the legionella outbreak, were the asylum seekers on board not warned to avoid using the water?"
He continued: “By refusing to be transparent on what we knew and when, these questions hang over the integrity of the Prime Minister. I fear his evasive response is because the answer to these questions would expose that this is a Government that places a higher priority on its ‘small boats week’ PR campaign than the health and safety of asylum seekers.”
Meanwhile Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael MP said: "If only the Conservatives spent half the amount of energy on clearing the asylum backlog that they do on defending this indefensible, unworkable policy.
"As both the risks - and the bills - for the Bibby Stockholm rise, it's just not good enough that the Government keeps avoiding these important questions.
"The buck stops with the Prime Minister. It's time to finally come clean about what he knew, and when."
Mr Sunak, who has returned to work this week after a family holiday in California, defended using barges, saying: "This is about fairness.
"It is about the unfairness, in fact, of British taxpayers forking out £5 million or £6 million a day to house illegal migrants in hotels up and down the country, with all the pressure that puts on local communities. We've got to find alternatives to that, that is what the barge is about and that is why we are committed to it."
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