Bibby Stockholm: Asylum seekers will be on barge in coming weeks - Oliver Dowden

Asylum seekers will move onto the Bibby Stockholm barge "in the coming weeks" once safety concerns are addressed, the deputy prime minister has said.

Oliver Dowden told the BBC he was "confident" any remaining issues with the vessel would be resolved.

Earlier, the Fire Brigades Union wrote to Home Secretary Suella Braverman seeking talks over fire safety fears.

Some 500 asylum seekers are set to be housed on the accommodation barge, moored in Portland Port in Dorset.

It is seen as a key part of the government's strategy to deter migrants from arriving on Britain's shores in small boats, and ministers have said it would help cut the £6m-a-day cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels while their claims are processed.

Plans to move the first 50 asylum seekers onto the vessel were delayed on Tuesday with the FBU describing it as a "potential death trap".

Mr Dowden told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have to undertake a number of inspections and other measures to make sure that these vessels, and this vessel in particular, is suitable and ready.

"We are confident that we will be able to address all of these concerns, I'm absolutely certain of that, and I'm absolutely certain we will be able to get people on this vessel in the coming weeks."

A Home Office source said the government was still excepting the first migrants on the Bibby Stockholm next week, despite the suggestion from the deputy PM that it might be longer before the vessel was operational.

In a letter sent to the Home Office, FBU assistant general secretary Ben Selby said the union wanted to ensure a "tragedy" would be prevented and to guarantee public safety.

He said the union had fears about overcrowding, access to fire exits and "other safety matters on the vessel".

"We have substantial expertise, including from earlier disasters such as the Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent public inquiry," he added.

"We are concerned above all to prevent another tragedy."

Government sources have suggested complaints by the Labour Party-affiliated FBU are politically motivated, and Mr Dowden also pointed out that the union was a Labour donor.

Speaking on Tuesday, cabinet minister Grant Shapps denied the barge was a "death trap" and said there was no reason why it "wouldn't be absolutely safe".

The 222-room, three-storey barge will house adult males, aged from 18 to 65, who are in the latter stages of their asylum applications.

It will be the first time migrants have been housed in a berthed vessel in the UK.

The government said there were currently about 51,000 "destitute migrants" in hotels across the UK, costing the taxpayer in excess of £6m a day - and argues the vessel will reduce these costs.

There has been considerable local opposition within the south coast community of Portland, amid concerns about the impact 500 new arrivals would have on local services.

Human rights groups have also described the decision to house migrants on a barge as "inhumane".

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