Asylum seekers to have less space than a car parking bay on ‘quasi-prison’ barge

Home Office will not say how 500 men will fit into 222 ‘single en-suite bedrooms’ on board

Asylum seekers will have less living space than an average parking bay on a barge likened to a “quasi-prison” by a Conservative MP.

The Home Office says it will house around 500 people on the Bibby Stockholm, with a “phased programme of embarkation” starting after it is towed to Portland port in Dorset.

But an official brochure released by owner Bibby Marine shows there are only 222 “single en-suite bedrooms” on board, meaning that at least two people may have to be crammed into every cabin for the government to achieve its aim.