Housing asylum seekers on barge ‘untenable’ after legionella discovery, says charity – as it happened

End of day summary

Nicola Slawson

Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day:

• All asylum seekers being housed onboard a controversial barge are being removed because of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system, it has been confirmed. Home Office sources said legionella had been identified on the Bibby Stockholm, the 222-bedroom hulk hired by the Home Office as part of a £1.6bn immigration deal.

• Treasury minister John Glen has said he does not back the UK leaving the European convention on human rights. He made the comments when asked on LBC’s Nick Ferrari if he is in support of “what we understand to be a growing sentiment within the Conservative party that the United Kingdom should quit the European convention on human rights”.

• The Home Office is preparing for a large number of small boat arrivals over the next few days and has issued an appeal for contractor staff from across the country to work at Manston processing centre in Kent even if they are not rostered to work, the Guardian understands. Government sources have confirmed a high number of crossings are likely in the next few days. Weather conditions on Friday night are thought to be particularly favourable.

• Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, has said he could stand for election to a directly elected senate at Westminster if Labour follows through on its pledge to abolish the House of Lords. Drakeford, the Welsh Labour leader, has previously refused invitations to stand as an MP and instead devoted himself to the Senedd in Cardiff, overseeing the implementation of new powers for the devolved parliament.

• The MP Angus MacNeil has announced he has been expelled from the Scottish National party (SNP). He was suspended from the party’s Westminster group last month after reportedly clashing with its chief whip, Brendan O’Hara.

• Junior doctors in England have launched a fifth round of industrial action, with thousands going on strike just days after starting their first NHS jobs. Soon after the doctors began their strike action the chief secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, ruled out pay negotiations with the doctors.

• Steve Barclay has urged the British Medical Association to end strike action and for junior doctors to accept the latest pay deal offered. The health secretary told broadcasters that he was concerned about the impact strikes are having on patients and “that is why I call on the BMA to end their industrial action”.

• Humza Yousaf was branded a “pestilence on the land” by a heckler as he appeared at an Edinburgh festival fringe event. The Scottish first minister was interrupted three times when he took to the stage with broadcaster Iain Dale on Friday.

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Home Office appeals for extra staff to assist with sharp rise in small boat arrivals

Diane Taylor

The Home Office is preparing for a large number of small boat arrivals over the next few days and has issued an appeal for contractor staff from across the country to work at Manston processing centre in Kent even if they are not rostered to work, the Guardian understands.

Government sources have confirmed a high number of crossings are likely in the next few days. Weather conditions on Friday night are thought to be particularly favourable.

The Home Office said it did not comment on operational matters.

The government confirmed there was a very large number of crossings on Thursday with 755 people arriving in 14 boats, pushing the number of people who have crossed since records began in 2018, over the symbolic 100,000 mark.

Thursday’s arrivals included one boat that got into difficulty with 17 people overboard off the Kent coast. They were rescued by four RNLI lifeboats. There were no crossings detected over the previous four days.

According to charity workers in the camps in northern France, where people wait for the smugglers to approve their journey across the Channel, there are “a lot of people on the move” and about 800 people counted in Grande-Synthe camp, Dunkirk, waiting to cross.

The high number of crossings is expected despite the prime minister and home secretary’s repeated pledges to “stop the boats” and Rishi Sunak’s assurances that the policy of increased patrols by the French had significantly increased interceptions of those trying to cross. However, after these interceptions people can simply attempt to cross again the following night.

Read the full story here:

Humza Yousaf was branded a “pestilence on the land” by a heckler as he appeared at an Edinburgh festival fringe event.

The Scottish first minister was interrupted three times when he took to the stage with broadcaster Iain Dale on Friday, PA News reports.

As he spoke about how he had experienced “too many people who have been racist” Yousaf was interrupted by Niall Fraser, a member of the Scottish Family party.

Fraser shouted at Yousaf:

On behalf of Scotland, fuck you. You are a pestilence on the land.

You are despicable, you should be behind bars.

As the man was led out of the room, Yousaf quipped: “I don’t mind a good heckle, frankly, because it saves my dad from doing it.”

However, he told the audience at the All Talk show:

I’ve had too many people who have been racist to me throughout my life.

As a person of colour, there is a real sense of frustration at the amount of times people of colour in any profession get told, essentially, ‘you don’t belong here’.

They’re told that in different ways: ‘you’re not intelligent enough’, ‘you’re not good enough’ ‘you’re out of your depth’, this that and the other.

He said he had spoken about this with London mayor Sadiq Khan, as well as former SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheik, who is now a member of the rival pro-independence Alba party.

We all get told the same thing,” Yousaf said. He continued: “Every interaction I have I am conscious about my colour.”

He continued:

I can be the first minister of this country but I am afraid there are some people who will always look at me first as a person of colour, and they will form a judgment.

So when you ask me if it’s something that is on my mind, I can’t not be conscious of my colour, because everybody else is conscious of my colour.

While he insisted his race “does not dominate everything I do”, the first minister went on to say it would be “a shame if I didn’t use my position to make sure that I do as much as I can for any marginalised group, not just people of colour”.

Later, he was interrupted by environmental protesters, who called on him to speak out against new oil and gas licences being granted by the UK government in the North Sea.

Yousaf told them:

I don’t think Scotland’s future is in oil and gas.

Rishi Sunak last month travelled to Scotland to announce government support for future oil and gas licensing rounds, with the prime minister saying he wanted to “max out” developments in the North Sea.

All asylum seekers being housed onboard a controversial barge are being removed because of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system, it has been confirmed.

Home Office sources said legionella had been identified on the Bibby Stockholm, the 222-bedroom hulk hired by the Home Office as part of a £1.6bn immigration deal.

The first asylum seekers boarded on Monday, and by Friday there were 39 onboard the vessel, which is docked in Portland Port, Devon.

People can get lung infections, such as legionnaires’ disease or Pontiac fever, if they breathe in small droplets of water in the air that contain the bacteria. No one has so far been identified as contracting the disease.

A Home Office spokesperson said environmental samples from the water system on the Bibby Stockholm had shown levels of legionella bacteria that required further investigation.

Read more from my colleagues Rajeev Syal and Diane Taylor here:

The charity Care4Calais said ministers “should now realise” that keeping refugees on barges was “untenable” after asylum seekers were removed from the Bibby Stockholm following the discovery of levels of legionella bacteria in the water system onboard.

Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said:

We have always known our concerns over the health and safety of the barge are justified, and this latest mismanagement proves our point.

The Bibby Stockholm is a visual illustration of this government’s hostile environment against refugees, but it has also fast become a symbol for the shambolic incompetence which has broken Britain’s asylum system.

The government should now realise warehousing refugees in this manner is completely untenable, and should focus on the real job at hand – processing the asylum claims swiftly, so refugees may become contributing members of our communities as they so strongly wish.

The asylum seekers who arrived on the Bibby Stockholm barge this week are being removed after legionella bacteria was found in the water, the Home Office said.

A spokesperson said 39 asylum seekers who moved on to the barge earlier in the week are being disembarked.

The first group of asylum seekers were seen arriving at Portland on Monday morning in buses and were taken onboard.

The barge was docked off the Dorset coast more than three weeks ago and remained empty until Monday due to health and safety concerns.

The spokesperson said:

The health and welfare of individuals on the vessel is our utmost priority. Environmental samples from the water system on the Bibby Stockholm have shown levels of legionella bacteria which require further investigation.

Following these results, the Home Office has been working closely with UKHSA and following its advice in line with long-established public health processes, and ensuring all protocol from Dorset council’s environmental health team and Dorset NHS is adhered to.

As a precautionary measure, all 39 asylum seekers who arrived on the vessel this week are being disembarked while further assessments are undertaken.

No individuals onboard have presented with symptoms of Legionnaires’, and asylum seekers are being provided with appropriate advice and support.

The samples taken relate only to the water system on the vessel itself and therefore carry no direct risk indication for the wider community of Portland nor do they relate to fresh water entering the vessel. Legionnaires’ disease does not spread from person to person.

UK economy grows faster than expected after surprisingly strong June

Jasper Jolly

The UK economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter of this year after growth was boosted by a recovery in car manufacturing and a surprisingly strong June.

UK GDP increased by 0.2% in April to June, up from 0.1% in the previous three months and the best quarterly reading in more than a year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The data surprised economists, with a poll of them beforehand forecasting no growth in output during the quarter. The reading was helped by an unexpectedly strong performance in June, when output rose by 0.5%. GDP had fallen by 0.1% in May because of an extra bank holiday to celebrate the coronation of King Charles after growth of 0.2% in April.

However, the UK economy still remains 0.2% smaller than it was in the final quarter of 2019, before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic triggered the deepest recession on record.

The cost of living crisis period of the last 18 months remains the weakest period outside a recession for 65 years, the Resolution Foundation thinktank pointed out, despite the UK economy dodging a technical recession of two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.

Darren Morgan, an ONS director of economic statistics, said:

The economy bounced back from the effects of May’s extra bank holiday to record strong growth in June. Manufacturing saw a particularly strong month, with both cars and the often-erratic pharmaceutical industry seeing particularly buoyant growth.

Services also had a strong month, with publishing and car sales and legal services all doing well, though this was partially offset by falls in health, which was hit by further strike action. Construction also grew strongly, as did pubs and restaurants, with both aided by the hot weather.

The increase in output in the latest quarter was mainly driven by an increase of 1.6% in manufacturing, the ONS said. It said falling prices of materials may be “relieving some pressure on manufacturers”.

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