Ministers must say what was known of legionella on Bibby Stockholm, says Labour | Immigration and asylum

The shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, has written to the Home Office demanding to know what the department knew about the risk of legionella bacteria being present on the Bibby Stockholm before moving people on to the barge.

Thirty-nine people were removed from the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, on Friday, after the potentially deadly bacteria was detected in the barge’s water system.

As of Saturday, none of the people on the barge had tested positive for the disease, but it can take up to 16 days for symptoms to emerge.

Kinnock wrote to the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, on Saturday asking what the Home Office had known about the risk of the bacteria being present before moving migrants on to the barge.

Kinnock described the events as a “sorry affair” and “another shambolic example of the chaos, incompetence and confusion that have come to define the way in which this government is dealing with the asylum crisis that it has created”.

He added: “When will the government stop resorting to headline-chasing gimmicks and instead adopt Labour’s plan which will stop the dangerous Channel crossings, tackle the people smugglers, clear the backlog to end the use of inappropriate and eye-wateringly expensive hotels, military bases and barges?

“Why should the British public trust you to deal effectively with this mess when every measure you announce either fails to deliver, never gets off the ground, or just makes everything worse?”

He later tweeted: “Has anyone seen Suella Braverman?”

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, the former Brexit secretary David Davis said the incident had revealed the “startling incompetence of the Home Office itself”.

He added: “Rather famously many years ago, John Reid, when he took over as home secretary, talked about it being not fit for purpose, and I’m afraid you’re seeing that here.

“It’s really, really hard to understand how, at all layers, this could not be caught early.

“Even working properly, the Bibby barge would only take effectively one day’s arrivals. So it’s not a solution to the problem and all of this is going to go on until the Home Office is able to process these arrivals more quickly.”

The Home Office also faced criticism from other Conservative politicians. Tim Loughton, a former minister and member of the Commons home affairs committee, said the issues regarding the Bibby Stockholm were “deeply troubling, and rapidly turning into a farce that the Home Office can ill afford”.

He added: “Given the importance of the project, it was important that every risk assessment was performed before the people were put on the barge. Given the delays, there are serious questions as to why they were not done and what comeback there is on the contractors or whoever is responsible for signing it off for habitation.”

The former Conservative MP Scott Benton, who now sits as an independent, said that the barge had become a “complete and utter farce”.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he added: “As if having porous borders isn’t bad enough, we can’t even move 39 illegal immigrants on to a barge properly.”

A leaked Home Office letter seen by the Guardian shows asylum seekers have been told they will be tested if they show a range of symptoms including dry coughs, confusion and diarrhoea.

A public health expert has said the bacteria would have been an obvious risk to test for before moving people on to the barge.

Prof Paul Hunter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Certainly if we … had had a [hospital] ward that had not been open for a number of weeks and the water was still in the pipes, we would check that before we actually started moving patients into that ward, and this didn’t seem to happen. This is very concerning.”

The Home Office has faced fierce criticism over the plans to house asylum seekers in barges and former military bases.

Last week the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said it planned to write to the Home Office about overcrowding and access to fire exits on the vessel.

This is due to the fact that the barge has 222 cabins along narrow corridors over three decks, with two main exits.

The evacuation point for those onboard is a compound on the quayside, and has been described as “completely inadequate” for about 550 people.

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

On Friday, it said: “The health and welfare of asylum seekers remains of the utmost priority.

“The Home Office and our contractors are following all protocol and advice from Dorset council’s environmental health team, UK Health Security Agency and Dorset NHS who we are working closely with.”