A barge docked off the Dorset coast will hold around 500 asylum seekers for at least 18 months, the Home Office has confirmed, despite facing legal threats from local Tories."Basic and functional accommodation" will be provided on the three-storey Bibby Stockholm along with 24/7 security under Government plans to reduce the costly reliance on hotels.The Home Office has not set out the cost of the lease agreement for the vessel that will be docked at Portland Port, but estimates have put the over

A barge docked off the Dorset coast will hold around 500 asylum seekers for at least 18 months, the Home Office has confirmed, despite facing legal threats from local Tories."Basic and functional accommodation" will be provided on the three-storey Bibby Stockholm along with 24/7 security under Government plans to reduce the costly reliance on hotels.The Home Office has not set out the cost of the lease agreement for the vessel that will be docked at Portland Port, but estimates have put the overall price tag of the charter and the berthing at more than £20,000 a day.Tory-run Dorset Council and local Conservative MP Richard Drax are considering launching legal action to prevent the barge being docked near the seaside resort of Weymouth.Human rights organisations criticised the "cruelty" of "confining" hundreds of vulnerable people on a barge, as they blamed the Government for creating the backlog of asylum claims.Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: "We will not elevate the interes