Asylum seekers on board the Bibby Stockholm, along with anti-racism campaigners and local residents, have been protesting this week about what they say are "lengthy delays" in the processing of their asylum claims.

The protesters are hoping that the recent change in government in Britain will lead to a change in policy as well, and have asked the new government under the leadership of the Labour Party to end the state of "limbo" in which they say they find themselves on board the barge.

The protest is organized by the Portland Global Friendship group and Stand up to Racism, Dorset. On the former's Facebook page, the group stated they support refugees on the barge, which is moored in Portland Harbor, in Dorset, in the south-west of England.

Two-hour sit-in

In June, the Portland group said that conditions on board the vessel were becoming "increasingly full."

One of the coordinators of the protest, Giovanna Lewis, told the BBC, "They've been waiting for a long, long time … some of them up to three years," to have their asylum claims processed.

Lewis said that some of the protesters had boycotted their breakfast and lunch, and had taken part in a two-hour sit-in on board. Local residents held a solidarity vigil in the rain outside as well.

Lewis said that some of the men on board described the barge as a "hell-hole" and a "prison," adding that they were desperate to get off the barge.

"It’s a desperate situation for them," Lewis stressed. "Their mental health is declining horrendously."

Towards the end of last year, one Albanian national on board the vessel was found dead in his cell. He is thought to have taken his own life.

The barge was also beset by problems regarding health and safety in the first few months after the previous government had declared it open.

Also read: Barges and cruise ships, are they suitable for housing asylum seekers?

'Close the barge'

Local town councillor Carralyn Parkes also told the Dorset Echo local newspaper that she was calling on Britain's new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to "close the barge."

Parkes said: "We have had a change of government. The Home Office's recent statement said that they are going to process the asylum claims in a speedy and fair fashion. Let's see them get around to doing that now."

Also read: Housing asylum seekers costing the UK £8 million a day

Parkes continued: "I call on Keir Starmer to enact immediately a closure of the Bibby Stockholm and to inject that money into the asylum and immigration system so that we can pay for people to process the asylum claims in a speedy fashion."

Another protester, Lynne Hubbard from Stand up to Racism, Dorset, told the Dorset Echo that she felt the key to closing the barge would be to speed up the processing of claims.

"We have a doctor on the barge, we have computer programmers on the barge, these are people who can really contribute to our society, but they are not being allowed to," Hubbard said.

The Dorset Echo highlighted that many of those on board the Bibby Stockholm had been in the UK for several years now.

Home Office statement

According to the Home Office, there are currently fewer than 400 men on board the parked vessel. The barge is built to house up to 500.

InfoMigrants asked the Home Office to respond to the protests and to explain their future policy regarding the Bibby Stockholm. A spokesperson sent the following statement:

"We take the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers seriously and at every stage in the process will seek to ensure that all needs and vulnerabilities are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma."

In June, just over a week before the recent UK election, Yvette Cooper, Britain's new Home Secretary, had said that her government would keep the Bibby Stockholm barge in use if her party won the election.

She explained at the time that although the party wanted to "end the need for barges ... as fast as possible," they wouldn't be able to do that in day one, reported the Independent newspaper.

Those on board wish to 'live and work in the UK'

In a statement to InfoMigrants on Tuesday (July 16), the Home Office said that the Home Secretary will "decide on the future of current Home Office policies in due course."

The statement underlined that "(a)sylum seekers being accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm are provided with a range of support, including welfare, medical and faith support which includes access to prayer spaces and visits from local faith leaders."

They said that a medical facility was staffed five days a week, and that the medical team has "previous experience of working with asylum seekers."

The lease contract on the barge will be up for renewal in January 2025, confirmed Dorset Council in a statement in April this year. However, the Home Office declined to comment on whether or not they would renew that contract.

Instead it said that the expected maximum length of stay on board "is expected to be nine months, except when the Home Secretary is unable to find suitable onward dispersal accommodation despite reasonable efforts to do so."

A spokesperson for the protesters meanwhile told the Daily Mail that the men holding the protest, "wish to live and work in the UK, earn their own livings, pay their own way and contribute to society by paying their taxes."