Migrant barge ‘not a type of prison’, Roads Minister says

A giant barge docked off the Dorset coast that will hold asylum seekers is “not a prison”, roads minister Richard Holden has said.

The accomodation will hold around 500 asylum seekers for at least 18 months, the Home Office has confirmed.

Conservative-run Dorset Council and local Tory MP Richard Drax are considering launching legal action to prevent the barge being docked near Weymouth.

Richard Holden, roads and local transport minister, told Sky News that the plans were “about trying to manage these people as well as possible.”

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